Leo woke to the sound and smell of something cooking. The heavenly aroma had him salivating even before he sat bolt upright in bed – and when did he move into the bed? Last he remembered he was on the floor – eyes wide open and searching for the food being cooked. It only dawned on him after he locked eyes with the other inhabitant of the cabin that someone had to be cooking the food.
"Glad to see you're alive," the woman said gruffly, raising one eyebrow at him as she stirred whatever was in the skillet she was holding, the mix of veggies and meat tossing grease and flavor into the air. Leo could practically taste it with his eyes, though the fact he had finally met another person took immediate precedence.
"Um," was Leo's eloquent response as he took in the sight of another human being. She was tall and muscular, with long brown hair pulled into a rough ponytail and wearing a black t-shirt that showed off the whipcord strength in her arms. A Furrett lay draped across her shoulders like a living scarf, its beady black eyes watching Leo as the woman focused on what she was cooking, eyes facing front. A fire crackled in the metal oven, not the fireplace, and filled the small cabin with a steamy warmth.
"You're a smart brat, you know that? Mew knows why you're all the way out here but you would've died had you not gotten that fire started…and curled up with all those blankets, and your Slowpoke." she continued, removing the pan from the heat, setting it to the side and fixing Leo with a stare that spoke volumes as to what she was thinking. Her almost charcoal-colored eyes bored straight into Leo, and he just smiled at her.
"Thank you, but I probably would've died had that Absol not shown me to the cabin," Leo said, scratching the back of his neck and kicking off the mess of blankets covering him. Sunlight filtered in through the cabin window, and Leo took a deep breath.
"You know what an Absol is?" she asked.
"White furred, scythe for a horn, and a canine? Said to herald disasters, but came to warn me of one? Yes, I know what an Absol is," Leo said, raising one eyebrow at her.
"Well that explains some things at least," the woman murmured, scratching the Furrett behind the ears and making it coo in response. "I'd been tracking a non-native species through the mountains for a few days now, and imagine my surprise when the tracks of a young human join up with it. Followed them here and arrived an…hour or two after the snowstorm hit? Pokemon tracks vanished off into the night, not that I was going much further in a snowstorm, and you were sleeping in front of the fire. But an Absol, of all bloody things…what on earth convinced you to follow an Absol?" she demanded.
"It led me here," Leo said, furrowing his brows in confusion. "There was a snowstorm coming, I'm shirtless and had no supplies, and figured I had to try something to survive. The Absol seemed to want me to follow it, so I did," the woman nodded, folding her arms and smiling when Leo's eyes darted to the still-sizzling pan of food.
"Well, we can talk details later. First, it looks like you need to eat," she said, and Leo couldn't agree more, ignoring the aching of his limbs as he leapt to his feet and sought food.
He demolished the entirety of the food she had prepared in record time, inhaling the divine goodness that was salt and pepper – sprinkled over the mess of veggies and diced meat liberally – and swearing up and down that it was the greatest thing he'd ever tasted. The woman – who named herself as Victoria – only laughed and told him to try it again after he'd eaten real food for a while. "Everything tastes better in the wild," she said, which while Leo could confirm that, he didn't much care. She apparently was not famous for her cooking, a joke which had Leo coughing on his food while he struggled not to laugh.
"So, what's a kid like you doing out here anyway?" Victoria asked, seating herself on the floor while she watched Leo run his finger on the plate he had been given, determined to get every last drop of flavor. It beat everything he'd eaten so far – unseasoned foodstuff was bland.
"Dunno, fell through a hole in the sky," Leo answered before he could even think. Victoria blinked at him.
"What?" She asked.
"I don't know," Leo clarified, looking up at her. "Got lost, I guess. Something like that anyway – I just…woke up and found myself in the middle of a Slowpoke herd,"
"Really," Victoria said deadpan, raising her eyebrows at Leo and not masking her disbelief.
"Really. The truth is stranger than fiction, I promise," Leo countered, setting his plate to the side and scratching the head of the still-sleeping Slowpoke as it lay curled up at the foot of the bed.
"And how long have you been out here?" she asked, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Months," Leo replied. At this, Victoria whistled but didn't look overly surprised. Leo supposed he looked the part of a wild child – his hair was long and undoubtedly greasy, and his clothes might as well be made of dirt and mud at this point. Her eyes lingered on the scars on his chest – leftover from the Sneasel attack. They were thin and small, nothing to truly be concerned about, and Leo hadn't given the fact that they had scarred much thought.
"…where are your parents?" she asked after a moment, looking back up to meet Leo's eyes. He frowned and shook his head, barely registering the dull throb of his heart when he thought of his parents. He'd…never see them again, and he'd had how many months to dull that ache? He didn't even know anymore, but Leo supposed it was a blessing in disguise that he'd been so preoccupied with survival that he hadn't really had time to mourn the loss of his old world, and everything in it.
"I see," Victoria said, falling silent. Leo half expected to hear her attempt comforting words, or pry deeper into the situation but she remained silent. He was almost glad for it, considering how hollow those words would have sounded to him – and didn't that thought surprise him. For some reason Leo thought he had taken being shoved into another world better, but maybe he had just put those thoughts on the backburner, and now that he was in the presence of another person, arguably safe now, they were coming to the front.
Thoughts for later.
"I was on a mission to track that Absol – didn't know it was an Absol until now, so thanks for that – but I'm pretty sure this takes priority. C'mon, kid. I'll take you to the nearest police station, they'll know what to do with you," Victoria said suddenly, standing up and dusting off her green cargo-pants legs, the Furrett squeaking in protest as it was jostled out of its position and leapt to the floor with a thud.
"Now? Didn't it just snow?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow at her. She laughed and threw open the cabin door, revealing the world painted in white…or so Leo expected. There had to have been at least four inches of snow on the ground at some point, and it was still visible in the drifts that formed near trees and boulders, but the sun was shining bright and the snow was already starting to melt off. Some patches of ground were even bare now, if a little muddy.
"Late-summer snows aren't that uncommon in the Silver Mountains, kid. It's already sixty degrees outside, and the snow will be melted off by nightfall," she explained, grabbing a red jacket from where it lay crumpled on the floor and tossing it to Leo, but not before taking a handful of red and white orbs out of the pockets, sticking them into her pants pockets. "Wear that, since you don't have a shirt. It'll keep the wind off,"
"Uh, thanks," Leo muttered, fanning out the jacket and scanning it momentarily. It was plain, a simple red jacket made of a thick, demin-like material that he quickly struggled on. It was too big, the sleeves dwarfed his arms, but Leo was at least glad he had something to wear again.
"Bran here will get us to the nearest town in just a few hours, so jump on and hang on tight," Victoria said, pulling one faded pokeball from her pocket and releasing a three-headed bird in a flash of red light. Leo blinked, awestruck by the sight of a pokemon materializing before him for the first time. The Dodrio cawed sharply, two of the three heads pecking at the middle one before Victoria snapped her fingers, the sharp sound immediately gaining the attention of all of its heads. "Behave yourself," she chided, brushing a hand against the Dodrio's flank and glancing back, smirking.
Leo tried, and failed, to wipe the gobsmacked look off his face. That big bird – easily six feet tall – had just appeared out of thin air, and it looked much cooler than in the games. Much like a three-headed ostrich, but meaner and with far longer and sharper beaks, and feathers the color the rich brown chocolate. As much as he had known academically that this would happen, he still wasn't prepared for it.
"You want me to ride him?" Leo asked rhetorically, meeting the gaze of all three of the Dodrio's heads. The middle head snapped its beak at him irritably, and he took a calm, not-at-all intimidated step back.
"Like I said, Bran should be able to get us to town in just a few hours," Victoria said, amusement clear in her voice as she casually smacked the beak of the middle head. "So just come here, hop on, and let's go,"
"Let me grab my stuff at least," Leo protested, glancing back into the cabin to look at his backpack and the sleeping slowpoke.
"Hurry up then," Victoria said impatiently, waving Leo forward. After a brief moment Leo scrambled, darting into and about the cabin as he picked up his scattered supplies. Apparently in his exhausted haze he didn't have the presence of mind to keep most of his backpack together, so it was all over the place. Thankfully Archibald's book was still where it was supposed to be though.
Once he darted out of the cabin, Slowpoke strapped into his backpack once more and shoes crunching the snow underfoot, Victoria grabbed him by the collar and bodily hauled him onto the back of Bran, the Dodrio hardly even flinching at Leo's weight. Said boy briefly scowled at the casual reminder of how small he was now, but that was shoved out of his head when Victoria patted Bran's side, the three-headed bird crouching slightly to allow her on behind him.
"Um, no saddle? Can Bran carry both of us?" Leo asked, placing his hands in the spaces between the Dodrio's three necks to brace himself as it rose back to full height. Victoria wrapped one arm around his waist as she shifted behind him.
"Nah, no need for a saddle. You weigh hardly anything, and Bran here's a big boy. He can take it," she said gruffly, whistling sharply. Bran lurched forward with a shriek, a caw, and a coo as the third head turned around and pecked affectionately at Victoria, who batted the head away. Leo bounced up and down a bit as Bran worked up speed, a relatively warm wind brushing through Leo's hair as it bound through the river valley, leaping clear over large boulders and bushes.
Leo laughed aloud, any hesitation vanishing and replaced by a manic grin as the Dodrio sprinted down the length of the river. This was, undeniably, fun.
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Leo was starting to get annoyed. The first day had been a blur – Victoria had got him to town, he'd checked in with the police station and at the small clinic built in the small mountain town, he'd been given some actual clothes even if they were hand-me-downs from the station lost-and-found, and then he'd eaten a hamburger. He didn't even know what kind of meat it was, but he had inhaled that thing quicker than he could breathe in, fries and all. It was divine, and heavenly, and Leo had almost swooned. That had been the highlight of his day beyond, you know, arriving in a town and taking a shower.
He had to have spent at least an hour, just letting the hot water run over him. It was nice, having modern amenities again. Lights at night so he could do things other than sleep or fiddle with sticks in the firelight, and air-conditioning during the day so he didn't get too hot…yes, it was nice. Too bad he didn't have any money so he could buy food. He wanted sweets, so freaking bad.
Later the police had allowed him to spend the night in the clinic – which he abhorred, sleeping in an uncomfortable cot-like bed while surrounded by the unnaturally sterile scents of the clinic, though it was better than his pine-needle bed – after which followed today. The day Leo told them his story, and about finding Archibald Oak's journal.
He hadn't been expecting the upset that would cause. At first the police hadn't believed him, but when he showed them the book and essentially proved that it was the ex-champion's journal they got real excited real quick. They grilled him over his story for hours, and when the media somehow caught wind of the entire thing…well, that led to his current situation, where he stuck to his room in the clinic more to hide from reporters and more questions than for any other reason.
"I regret even mentioning this stupid book," Leo grumbled, rubbing his forehead to fight off the budding headache as he sat on the clinic bed. He had forgotten how tiring people could be.
"Well, I wouldn't have been able to warn you against it really," Victoria said from where she stood next to the clinic room door, her Furrett curled up around her feet. "Honestly I didn't expect you to be hiding this kind of secret. But I suppose it's to be expected – finding the journal of an ex-champion is a big deal, kid,"
"You don't say," Leo drawled, fixing Victoria with a dry look. She had been the first human contact he had ever received in this world, and Leo was just glad she had stuck around. Even if it was, in her own words, until he was dealt with. Something about her duty? Leo wasn't sure, though he'd had a grand old time going tit-for-tat with her. She was a sarcastic jerk, just like him!
"Well, the best is yet to come," Victoria said cryptically, pushing herself off the wall and stretching, her back popping audibly.
"Joy," Leo muttered, holding his head in his hands. After a brief moment a thought occurred to him, and Leo looked up. "Let me guess, Professor Oak himself is coming to verify whether or not the journal is his father's," thankfully it had been confirmed earlier that Archibald had, in fact, been the father of Samuel Oak, just like Leo had suspected.
As if on cue the door clicked open and in walked a clean-shaven man with greying hair and wearing a thick brown jacket. His eyes traced the room quickly, settling on Victoria. A smile split his face as he stepped forward, extending a hand for her to shake.
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"Ah, Victoria! It is good to see you again. How goes the training?" the older gentleman asked. The younger woman smiled at him and shook his hand genially, her bicep bulging as she squeezed his hand tightly. To the man's credit, however, he didn't even flinch which immediately gave Leo respect for the man. Victoria's grip was no joke.
"Well enough I suppose, so long as I don't keep getting interrupted. How have you been, Professor?" Victoria asked, and Leo's eyes widened as he fixated a stare at the older man, who he could only assume was Professor Oak. Now that he looked…he still couldn't quite make out the resemblance from the anime. He was much younger, for one, and his hair hadn't quite gone fully grey yet. His brown hair was peppered with grey streaks, true, but it wasn't all grey yet and, for another thing, it was hard to replace a real person with a cartoon character.
"Well enough, I suppose. Not what I was expecting to be doing today, but I suppose I can't complain about it. Still had to wrap up a few things before I hopped on Mizuchi, my Dragonite, but I got here quick as I could," he said, releasing Victoria's hand and turning to Leo. "Speaking of which, I suppose you're Leo?" he asked.
"Uh, yes, sir," Leo said, standing and extending a hand to Professor Oak. He smiled and took Leo's hand, being gentle with his grip despite Leo ensuring he had a firm grip. Once again Leo was reminded of how small he was now, and once again he found himself utterly frustrated by it. They were treating him like a child, and while that may work out well for him in the legal sense – what with him needing an entire new identity now - it did nothing for his pride.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Leo. I am Professor Samuel Oak. I hear you found my father's journal?" He asked slowly, and Leo nodded, pointing to the worn, leather-bound journal.
"It's right there," Leo said. Oak smiled at Leo and moved over to the book, carefully stepping over the sleeping slowpoke, who was sprawled out on the floor, and gingerly grabbing it. Leo watched with bated breath as Oak flipped it open, eyes scanning the contents yet his face remaining perfectly neutral.
"It is indeed my father's. I recognize the signature and the writing style from his old reports," Oak said after a few minutes, flipping to the front cover and running his hand along the page. "Where on earth did you find this?" he asked, turning back to Leo.
"In a cave. It was hidden inside a backpack, next to Archibald…I mean, Mr. Oak's skeleton. There was a cave-in, he was crushed. I, uh, do also have the remains of his pokemon's pokeballs though. It was his last action to release his team," Leo said, suddenly remembering the rusted pokeballs he had discovered and diving into his backpack – which was hanging from the foot of the bed – after them. He pulled the two balls out after a brief moment, handing them over.
Oak accepted the rusted balls silently, broken open as they were, and flipped them over and over. His fingers traced once section of the balls almost reverently, and though Leo thought for a moment he could see Oak's hand shake but that could've been his mind playing tricks on him. Still, watching Oak was starting to get to him. It made him think of his own family. He had just given Professor Oak some sort of closure to his father's disappearance, but Leo? He wouldn't be able to hear the voices of his parents ever again.
"Thank you, this means a lot to me," Oak said, meeting Leo's eyes. Leo shrugged carelessly and averted his gaze, looking at the bed and resisting the urge to fidget uncomfortably. The appreciation in Oak's voice touched Leo a bit closer to home than he had expected.
"Yeah, well, I mean, I would do a lot to hear my father's voice again, so I thought…you might want the same, or something," Leo said, immediately regretting what came out of his mouth. That wasn't what you wanted to say! What you wanted to say was "it was the right thing to do!" he mentally yelled at himself. Well sooorry, but I panicked and that's what I said, just roll with it! He argued back.
Oak turned out to be Leo's saving grace from himself, as he sighed and sat down on the bed, unzipping his jacket. "That does bring up a good point Leo. How did you end up in the Silver Mountains anyway?" Oak asked.
"I fell through a hole in the sky," Leo drawled without thinking, snapping his mouth shut and once more cursing himself at his thoughtless comment. It was easy enough to play of as a joke though…at least, that was what he expected to have to do. Instead he watched Oak narrow his eyes and lean forward on the bed, clasping his hands together and smiling a little too…genially to be a real smile. His gaze flickered to Victoria, who nodded.
The interaction made Leo frown, then curse himself as he remembered a few things. He'd made a few comments about the hole in the sky and Lunala, more accurately describe as, in his own words, "the stupid bat made of stars," with Victoria around. She must have some connection with Oak, who had enough information to piece it all together.
"What, it's just a joke," Leo grumbled half-heartedly, figuring he might as well try to pass it off.
"No, it's not," Oak said, smiling thinly. "Leo, I need you to be very detailed on what you remember, okay? This is important. You said you fell through a hole in the sky, can you describe it for me?"
Leo felt his nerves spike, and he narrowed his eyes, meeting Oak's gaze and trying to gauge his reaction. The seriousness in his gaze
"It was a big hole in the sky that showed the stars in the middle of the day," Leo said slowly. "Honestly didn't think anyone would take me seriously when I said it. What made you?"
Oak didn't immediately answer, sharing a look with Victoria who shrugged. Indecision marred Oak's expression for a brief moment before he sighed and shook his head.
"What I'm about to tell you is to be a secret, ok? Don't tell anyone," Oak said, and Leo nodded, choosing to ignore Oak's tone – like he was speaking to a child. "That hole in the sky you fell through, we believe to be something called an ultra-wormhole. It's a phenomena that only recently has begun to be researched, and my cousin is spearheading the research in Alola. The specifics aren't important, but your mentioning of a 'bat made of stars,' and the hole in the sky were too coincidental to pass up," Oak explained softly.
"The fact is, you may be in an entirely different world than where you were born," Victoria said bluntly, and Oak shot her a withering glare. Leo, on the other hand, kept his expression neutral. Tell me something I don't know. He scoffed mentally. "Better to get it over with now, professor," she said with a shrug.
"I'm pretty sure I understand," Leo said, cutting of the conversation. "I kinda floated around for a while in ultra-space for a while, I'm pretty sure. Was an…interesting experience,"
"You know about ultra-space?" Oak asked, surprised.
"Information about it wasn't exactly restricted where I'm from, but I don't know a lot," Leo said quickly, thinking fast. Already his secret was out, far quicker than he had anticipated, so he needed to come clean in a way. It would be easier to share some of his knowledge and twist a story around the half-truths than it would be to forge a backstory of lies. Especially with psychic pokemon around, Leo had no idea whether they could tell if he was lying or not. Of course, there were some parts he would leave out though.
Things like being from a world where pokemon was a video game, or him actually being much older than his current body would suggest? Those are best left unsaid.
"…that makes things easier," Victoria said after a moment, raising her eyebrows at Leo.
"Mm. I can't tell you much more about the wormholes other than what I just said, other than that they lead to parallel worlds or something? I think people can pass through them with some equipment and such, though there's a lot of room for error from what I remember. You never know where you might end up. I do know that the legendary pokemon Solgaleo and Lunala – Lunala was actually the one who snagged me out of ultra-space and dropped me in the mountains – can travel freely through ultra-space though," Leo explained. A small nudge against his leg had him looking down to see slowpoke banging his head against his leg.
The pink creature looked up at him with dopey eyes and cooed softly, in the way he always did when he was hungry. At least I know he's a he now, Leo thought to himself. A kind nurse had confirmed it for him, and showed him how to tell a slowpoke's gender.
"I…see. And you said you were in the Silver Mountains for a number of months, correct? That would put you there sometime around early spring?" Oak asked.
"I'm pretty sure it was the day of the spring equinox, or something like that. Your dad's Slowking was the one who helped me figure that out," Leo said casually.
"Longinus is still alive?!" Oak barked, sitting bolt upright and making Leo flinch with the outburst.
"Yes, and so is Tyrus. So, Longinus is Slowking's name then? He never actually told me what it was. It might be a good idea for you to go visit him, he was pretty adamant that I help return Archibald's book to you. He'd probably be able to give you more closure than I ever could," Leo said, moving over to sit on the plastic stool set in the corner of the clinic room, right next to one of the cabinets.
Oak pressed his index and thumb to the bridge of his nose and let out a breath, shaking his head.
"Let's take one thing at a time here. My father can wait, we need to figure out your situation first. You are aware then of your own circumstances," Oak asked, looking up at Leo.
"Sort of. I was kind of raised in a backwater," not a lie, Leo added mentally, I was raised in a small town. "And I never really got to see much of the world or anything so I might be pretty ignorant about things," Which was more of a lie, he'd actually travelled a whole bunch in his old world.
"I see," Oak said. "I must say, you are taking this remarkably well,"
"I've had six months to come to terms with it all. It's not perfect, but I'm managing," Leo admitted with a shrug. Oak was silent for a moment then, the quiet cut abruptly short when his phone started to ring. The older man blinked and pulled the device out of his pocket – it looked vaguely reminiscent of what Leo remembered a pokedex looking like – scowling at the front screen for just a moment before standing and giving Leo an apologetic look.
"Sorry, I have to take this. Give me just a moment, please," Oak said, tapping the phone and answering it with a "Hello," as he swiftly exited the room. Leo blinked in surprise and glance at Victoria, who shrugged.
"He's an important man," she said, pushing herself off the wall and moving to the door. "Give me a moment and I'll be back. See if I can't get your slowpoke any food. Want anything?" she asked.
"Chocolate," Leo answered immediately, having been craving that since he woke up. Next on his agenda would be ice cream, but eating so many heavy foods too quickly would be hard on his stomach too, so Leo had to pace himself lest he face the wrath of a stomachache. "If there is any, I want chocolate,"
"Of course you do," Victoria said with a snort. "Gypsy will stay here to keep you company, I won't be long," she said, her Furrett raising her head when Victoria said her name to watch her trainer leave. Leo hummed as his slowpoke once again butted his head against his leg, calling out once more in a desperate bid for attention.
"Well, that was something," he said, bending down and picking up the slowpoke, absently scratching his head as he pondered what had just transpired. Things had gone…remarkably well, he thought. All that was left now was to become a trainer or find some way to support himself, so he wasn't mooching off of the kindness of strangers. That sort of thing left a bad taste in his mouth, after all.
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"Well?" Victoria's voice cut the silence of the empty lounge as Oak snapped his phone shut, sighing heavily. The older man looked up at the younger woman and sighed.
"That was Giovanni. He's just being nosy again, asking if it is truly my father's journal. Makes sense that he would be interested, in a way, as this little town is technically in the jurisdiction of Viridian," Oak answered, rubbing his forehead. Dealing with Giovanni always gave him a headache, even if their conversations were usually pleasant. He didn't know why, but it always felt like he had to keep his guard up around the Viridian City Gym Leader.
"That's not what I care about, but okay," Victoria deadpanned, crossing her arms across her chest and arcing an eyebrow at Oak, who shook his head. "I'm wondering what you think of the boy's story?"
"He is telling the truth. Alakazam was monitoring his brainwaves the entire time, and most everything he said was truthful," Oak answered. "Even the timing of his appearance in the Silver Mountains matches the timing of ultra-space related phenomena Samson, your father, recorded in Alola. Around the spring equinox, of course,"
Victoria grunted, pulling a crumpled wad of bills out of her pocket and feeding one into one of the lobby vending machines, forcing the wrinkled bill into the feeder when it didn't want to accept it. Oak watched her struggle with the machine for a moment, the woman gradually getting more and more frustrated as it continually refused to accept her money. Sometimes it was hard to connect the image of her with her father, his own cousin Samson Oak, in his head. Her drive to train and become stronger was nothing like her father, who desired nothing more than to research and spread knowledge, nor was her short temper anything like the genial Samson Oak.
"The smart thing to do would be to hand him over to InterPol. They're the ones who handle ultra-space related incidents, as few and far between as those are," Oak continued, speaking more to himself than to anyone else. Victoria slammed a fist against the vending machine, grumbling angrily to herself as it finally accepted her bills.
"But you know exactly what they're going to do with him if you do that," Victoria said, punching in a number on the machine. "What was that poor girl's name again?" Oak internally winced upon Victoria bringing that up. He recalled how excited Samson had been when a girl had appeared out of an ultra-wormhole, and how equally devastated he'd been when said girl, untrained as she was, was killed not but a few months later on a mission for the International Police.
"I don't recall. Samson would know," Oak said, shaking his head. The newly-dubbed UB-project, spearheaded by InterPol, was a hot mess in Oak's humble opinion. Ever since Alola had opened up to the Leagues ten years ago, InterPol and other inter-regional organizations had become supremely interested in the islands' happenings, especially in the ultra-wormhole phenomena. Oak himself was only privy to certain information regarding said phenomena because they had consulted him on the appearance of legendary-class pokemon, dubbed Ultra Beasts, a few years prior.
"What I do know is that I cannot, in good conscience, condemn a child to the sort of life InterPol would consign him to," Oak continued, rubbing the bridge of his nose. InterPol had started the UB project to combat these Ultra-Beasts in the same way they had entire squadrons dedicated to combatting legendaries, should those pokemon ever threaten human civilization. He knew very little about the UB project other than that, it was more the jurisdiction of his cousin Samson, but what he did know was that ultra-beasts were drawn to the energy given off by ultra-wormholes, and those who passed through the wormholes retained some of that energy.
Which, while Kanto was nowhere near the hot-spot (and wasn't that a misnomer, considering the rarity of the phenomenon) for ultra-wormholes that Alola was, meant Leo had a very real chance of being chased down by legendary-class pokemon for the rest of his life. InterPol would try to prepare him and train him for that, but, if their prior history held true, InterPol would most definitely toss him into the fray without any training whatsoever if they thought it necessary.
"…earth to Professor Oak, you still in there?" Victoria's voice broke Professor Oak out of his thoughts, jolting the old man back to awareness. "I was asking what your plan is. I don't know anything about these holes in the sky other than what you've told me, which isn't a lot. Are they dangerous?" she asked.
"No, not particularly. What comes out of them, on the other hand, are potentially very dangerous," Oak admitted.
"And are you one hundred percent certain that he came out of one of the ultra-wormholes?" Victoria pressed, making Oak pause, then shake his head.
"The fact that he knows what an ultra-wormhole is makes me want to say yes, but the only way to be certain would be to test him for the energy ultra-wormholes give off," Oak muttered, rubbing his chin in thought. "I'll probably need to keep an eye on him regardless, though."
"Because he found your father's journal," Victoria said, bending down to pull a chocolate bar out of the vending machine.
"Partly, yes," Oak said. "But I am not sure if helping him is the right choice in this situation. There are too many variables to take into account," Victoria hummed and shrugged her shoulders, one hand resting on her belt of pokeballs.
"Take your time to think about what you're going to do. He's shown interest in being a trainer, you know, so you might be able to help him there. Hell, he seems pretty smart. Could probably become a Youngster if he tried," she said, turning to head out of the empty lobby. Oak scowled at the idea. The legal age in which one could become a trainer was fourteen – though that limit could be circumvented by taking a test to get a Youngster License, a license that essentially allowed anyone under the age of fourteen to become a trainer provided they stick to certain rules and remain on designated Routes.
Oak had been against the law allowing Youngster Licenses being passed, and he was all for the growing movement to repeal said bill now. Anything younger than fourteen was too young to be allowed to train the powerful beings known as pokemon. Unfortunately, Leo being skilled enough to survive in the wild for six months on his own – in addition to his perceived maturity – would most likely allow the young boy to pass the test.
Too many children had died as a result of that law for Oak to be comfortable allowing that.
Well, let's just keep it to myself then, Oak thought, sticking his hands in his pockets and feeling the familiar, comfortable shapes of his team's pokeballs. If he doesn't know all the options, then he won't be able to choose the Youngster License.