The band of stars that stretched across the sky was nothing short of phenomenal – the full beauty of the night sky unhindered by pollution of his old world.
Were there even any satellites up there?
Would Rayquaza knock them down before they got into orbit?
For that matter, what other space pokemon were there?
…
Leo paused at that thought, then flipped the bird at the sky.
He hoped Lunala saw that.
Stupid space-bat, dropping him in the middle of nowhere.
“Though I can’t really complain, it’s actually been pretty fun,” Leo groused, biting into the sentret and savoring the grease that burst into his mouth, dripping down his chin and falling onto the ground with heavy, wet plops.
A part of him knew that anything would taste good at this point, but he couldn’t help but marvel at how rich the meat was.
How…satisfying, even over the pidgey, when compared to his diet of magikarp, nuts, and potato-things.
“Gods above this is good.
Good sentret, I thank you for your sacrifice so I may fill my belly with your delicious meat,” Leo praised, taking another hearty bite and chuckling to himself.
“If only I had a stiff drink to go with this,” he mused.
“Slooooow,” a familiar voice called.
“Right?
Some gin or whiskey would be – waitaminute.” Leo sat bolt upright and glared at the lake, knowing what he heard.
There couldn’t be another slowpoke herd around here, could there?
He scanned the dark lake waters, searching for the source of the call, and only spotted it when the lumbering creature hauled itself out of the water and slowly ambled up toward Leo.
The slowpoke stared at him blankly as it came into the firelight, and Leo narrowed his eyes.
This looked suspiciously like Queen, the slowpoke having the same head-shape and the same habit of swishing its tail in circles when it walked.
“Slooow,” it called, ambling forward and nudging Leo.
“What on god’s green earth are you doing here?” Leo all but demanded, narrowing his eyes at the creature.
“Queen, what are you doing here?” he asked again, sighing heavily and rubbing his face.
A small part of him was hopeful, maybe Queen had come to travel with him?
But he was also utterly confused as to why she would come here.
Didn’t she have a herd to keep track of?
“Slooooow,” Queen called again, nudging Leo again before wandering back to the water’s edge, plopping herself down in the mud.
Leo watched at her for a while, taking another bite out of the sentret before sighing and lying back, staring at the sky.
“You and I need to have a talk, Queen,” Leo said, squashing his thoughts on training a pokemon and focusing instead on his food.
He still had quite a bit left over.
Did he risk saving it and attracting predators?
Leo thought for a moment, then nodded.
Yes, yes he did risk it.
He was tired of eating bugs for protein, and he had no desire to try and eat a caterpie or weedle.
Just the thought…ugh.
“Slimy yet satisfying” only applies to kids movies and oysters.
Eventually though, Leo’s exhaustion caught up with him and he pulled himself into bed – sliding into the pile of pine needles, leaves, and other dead foliage he had gathered for just this occasion.
Sleep soon overtook him, tired from the day of travel as he was.
…
“What is your problem, Queen?” Leo asked exasperated, glaring at the slowpoke that stood in front of him, preventing him from going further downriver.
The slowpoke made a rumbling noise in the back of her throat, and Leo furrowed his brows.
“Are you growling at me?” he asked.
A weak jet of water to the face was his reply, and Queen butted her head against his legs hard enough to knock him over as he spluttered.
“Hey!” he protested.
“What’s your deal?!
I told you, I can’t stay with you all anymore!”
“Slow,” Queen said resolutely, her normally dopey eyes uncharacteristically focused.
Her wide mouth opened and she bit down on Leo’s pant leg gently as she began to drag him, pulling him upriver
“Knock it off!” Leo snapped, yanking his leg out of her mouth.
“Are you trying to get me to come back to the herd?” he asked, grumbling as he stood up.
Queen let out another low call and butted her head against Leo’s leg once more, softer this time.
Leo sighed.
He thought he understood what Queen was trying to do, and it was heartbreaking to think about.
It must’ve taken her a while to figure out Leo had left for real this time – after all, he’d gone on day trips before with Slowking – and she came searching for him to bring him back to the herd.
That, or there was something really dangerous downriver that she didn’t want him heading to.
Leo was betting and hoping it was the former.
“Look girl, I can’t stay.
You all can survive the winter out here, I can’t.
I’m just a silly two-legged human, who wouldn’t have been able to survive had I not stolen from you all for a long time.
It’s time I head to meet more of my kind,” Leo said softly, kneeling down and scratching her behind her ears.
“If you…if you want to come with me you can, but you’ve also got a herd to look after.
Right?
That’s why I call you Queen, isn’t it?
Because it’s your herd?”
Leo met Queen’s gaze as she stared back at him, unblinking.
Her eyes began to glow a soft blue color, the light flickering and unstable, and Leo hesitated as a wave of feelings came crashing over him – a mishmash of muddled emotions to the point where Leo didn’t even know how he felt anymore.
The feeling of returning somewhere was prominent, and Leo quickly deduced exactly what was happening.
“Is this how psychic power works?” Leo mused, easily pushing those emotions out of his mind to sort through later.
Queen’s eyes continued to glow and, in a moment of inspiration, Leo pushed his own thoughts and emotions to the forefront of his mind.
He didn’t think, not with words.
He doubted Queen would actually understand them anyway, so he just…brought up things she could understand.
Scenes and emotions.
The biting cold winds of winter, Leo struggling through a blizzard when he was younger (mentally speaking) as he hiked through a mountain in search of his horse, the warmth of a fireplace, the love of his human family, watching the snow from inside a house, the desire for home, and the desire to explore.
He thought of leaving the mountains for his own safety, how thankful he was to the slowpoke herd, and he thought of Queen and her herd – how she had a home.
And that he could now take care of himself.
He didn’t know how much he got across to her, he got the feeling the connection was tenuous at best, but if the way the slowpoke’s body relaxed was any indication Leo figured she got the gist of it.
“I can’t go back.
I have to go forward,” Leo said softly, not even he himself knowing whether he was talking about the slowpoke herd or going back to his world.
Queen stared at him for a moment longer, and a new emotion washed over him, one Leo couldn’t decipher before the connection was cut and the glow faded from her eyes.
“Slooow,” she called as she turned and lumbered off into the lake.
Leo sighed, both glad and disappointed.
He had wanted Queen to stay with him, truthfully, but she had a herd to get back to.
The slowpoke’s body quickly vanished into the waters of the lake, though after a moment he spotted a ripple in the river moving with surprising speed upstream.
Leo smiled slightly to himself, nodded, and continued on down the river.
He still had a lot of ground to cover, though the ruined cabin had given him hope.
Maybe civilization was closer than Slowking had said.
Unfortunately for Leo, the terrain was gradually getting more difficult.
The mountainsides were getting steeper, and the valley narrower, forcing Leo to either climb the mountain or push through the dense greenery around the river.
It only took Leo a half day to figure out the latter was a bad idea for his current bare-chested self.
His stubbornness and unwillingness to climb the mountains, which were covered in this knee-high brush that was almost too thick to walk through, force him to push through the foliage next to the river – which left him bleeding and scratched all over from the whipping and scratching branches.
…
A/ N: The Story Needs More Power Stones 😉