Leo flinched as the beam passed not but twenty feet below him, and stumbled when the mountain shifted, parts of the mountainside sliding forward and falling to the crater below.
The only thing that saved Leo from falling himself was an unseen force that bound his limbs and held him aloft, floating mid-air until the mountain settled and he could find his footing.
…
Only when his feet touched ground did Leo allow himself to breathe.
His heart hammered in his chest and adrenaline spiked through his veins as he stared wide-eyed at the destruction the hyper beam had caused.
Nearly the entire top of the mountain had been sheared off, chunks of stone and dirt falling to the crater below and leaving a large, awkward-looking gouge where the attack had struck.
Leo swallowed thickly, tearing his eyes away from the destruction to look at the fight once more – though it was already over.
The lucario – whose once blue fur now looked black all over – leapt weakly at Tyrus, who bared his teeth and smashed his forehead into the lucario’s chest, sending it crashing to the ground.
Tyrus roared, planting one foot on the lucario’s chest in victory, and scowled down at the defeated pokemon.
“What happens now?” Leo asked, voice nothing but a whisper and shaking more than he would’ve like to admit.
“Depends on how Tyrus is feeling today,” Slowking answered.
“That lucario may not survive, or it may be allowed to run free.
It did intrude into Tyrus’ territory,” Leo clenched his jaw and watched Tyrus as he stood there silently.
Slowly, the tyranitar turned its head to look up at Leo and Slowking, and his breath hitched.
Slowking stiffened slightly, and Leo stared right back at Tyrus.
A few tense moments passed, then Tyrus shook himself and stomped back into one of the onix holes, disappearing into the inky blackness and leaving the lucario laying below.
Slowking relaxed only when Tyrus disappeared, turning to Leo somberly.
“Come, it is time to descend.
It would not do to test Tyrus’ patience and remain so close to his nest,” Slowking said, turning and floating down the mountain.
Leo remained where he was however, perched on a broken slab of stone that had been thrust upward when the mountaintop shifted.
He fixated his eyes on the lucario, or where he thought the lucario to be, as the light continued to fade.
“What about the lucario?” Leo asked.
“It will live.
In a few hours it will have enough strength to move again, and it will be safe enough in Tyrus’ nest.
Only the foolish or the powerful come here, after all,” Slowking explained.
Leo sighed and nodded, reluctant to just leave like that, but also knowing Slowking was probably right.
He didn’t understand pokémon the way Slowking probably did.
Plus he didn’t want to irritate Tyrus, especially after that display of strength.
Leo turned around and started to follow Slowking when realization struck him and he cursed.
They’d spent too much time here, and now he’d have to climb down in the dark.
Already the sunlight was fading fast, and with any luck Leo could get halfway down this particular rocky area before it got really dark.
Hopefully Slowking would help him out, but if the way the pink creature was simply floating down the mountainside without sparing Leo a glance it wasn’t likely.
Leo cursed again and started his careful climb down, praying to the gods that the rocks wouldn’t fall and that he wouldn’t slip.
Or that he wouldn’t run into any geodudes.
Or…well, a lot of things.
Carefully making his way down the rocky area alone took Leo a good hour and a half in the dark, and even though he managed to get over to the edge of the exceedingly rocky spot and get into some trees, the steep terrain and deadfall littering the ground prevented any form of quick movement.
Rushing down the mountain in the dark was a sure way to break an ankle or something, and all the dead trees lying across the mountain – though plenty more were still standing, the deadfall was plenty old for forest to have grown back up around it – only made things more dangerous.
At one point Leo even found himself calf-deep in wet, muddy grass, the clearing he though was a meadow actually turning out to be swampy wetlands.
Seriously, how in the world was a swamp like this on the side of a freaking mountain?!
Not to mention that he accidentally angered a trio of psyduck who clutched their heads and angrily spat water at him.
The fact that the water guns had sheared bark off of the tree trunk next to him had everything to do with the fact that Leo moved as fast as he could away from the yellow ducks, cursing his luck all the while.
All of this led to Leo camping at the base of the mountain, wringing his tattered socks out over the small fire he made and letting his shoes dry in the heat of the flames.
He hadn’t brought much with him on this little adventure, a mistake in hindsight, but he had brought tools to make a fire.
Namely, his knife and the flint-like stone.
Leo was rash sometimes, but he wasn’t stupid.
He needed ways to stay warm, and wasn’t keen on repeating last night’s misery in the cold.
Slowking had originally wanted to push on into the night and reach the slowpoke herd, but Leo had put his foot down.
Accompanied by a powerful psychic or no, Leo wasn’t going to traipse any further into the night.
The dark didn’t scare him, but he was tired, exhausted, wet, and still had a lot to digest from what he had witnessed today.
In the end he managed to convince Slowking, and now the bulky pokemon sat across the fire from him, eyes closed and meditating.
“Why did you want to show me that?” Leo asked aloud, fighting off sleep as he waited for his socks to dry, hanging over the fire as they were.
It wouldn’t do to let his socks burn up, but they needed to dry out so his feet wouldn’t get super cold while he slept.
Stupid swamp.
“You mean the fight?” Slowking asked.
Leo nodded, forgetting Slowking had his eyes closed, but apparently sight wasn’t necessary for the psychic type because he continued anyway.
“I wanted see how you’d react,”
“How did I react?” Leo muttered, rubbing his face.
He was too tired to play mind games with Slowking.
Was this some sort of test?
Leo would hedge his bets on it being a test.
Why did Slowking feel the need to test him?
Because he had Archibald’s journal?
“How did you react?” Slowking asked back, and Leo shrugged.
He was still figuring that out.
The sheer power both Tyrus and the lucario displayed was mind-boggling, quite literally something out of an anime.
How was he supposed to react to that?
He did know one thing though; Slowking was right.
Leo hadn’t really understood the power pokemon wielded until now.
He wasn’t sure he understood it even now.
“Dunno,” Leo said after a minute, and Slowking nodded, showing no other outward emotion.
“To be expected, I suppose.
We will return to that topic to that later, once you have had some time.
I forget how fragile humans are,” Slowking said.
Leo bit back a retort, his mind wandering to the lucario.
He was doubtful he could have survived a hyper beam, period.
Yet the lucario had not only taken the attack, but had still had enough energy to continue fighting, albeit barely.
“Though to be fair, you are quite young,”
Leo hummed in response, flipping his socks over on the tall stick he had them hanging on.
It wasn’t the most effective method, but it was working.
The two sat in silence for a while until Slowking stood and stretched, looking off into the darkness.
“I will leave you for a time now.
Nothing will threaten you this close to Tyrus’ mountain, as there is very little dumb enough to pick a fight with a tyranitar, but I do suggest you return to the slowpoke herd tomorrow,” Slowking said.
“That was the plan,” Leo murmured, patting his empty stomach.
He’d munched on some bugs and other edibles – namely pine nuts and the one potato look-alike he’d found – on the way up the mountain, but nothing really satisfying.
“Good.
Though one more piece of advice – I would not stay with the herd for much longer.
Although their path does lead toward human civilization I doubt their pace will suffice this year.
I fear winter will arrive early once more.
Slowpoke can survive the cold, you cannot,” Slowking said ominously, and Leo suddenly felt much more awake as he watched Slowking leave.
That wasn’t good news, now was it?
It meant he had a few months until winter, sure, but that might mean fall would be cut short.
Leo let out a long, slow breath and shook his head.
He was just…done with today.
With life in general right now.
Why couldn’t anything be simple and easy?
…
A/ N: The Story Needs More Power Stones 😉