King of the Hill
By Professor King
Summary: When Leo Pride received his first Pokemon and left behind everything he'd ever known, he had done it for the sole reason of escaping his broken home. He may never know when running away turned into a bid to become the strongest trainer who ever lived, but he knows with all of his being that he will never regret the day he left and never looked back. This is the story of Leo's struggle; the blood he spent, the tears he let free, the scars he earned and the lessons about life that he wouldn't trade for anything in the world. This is the story of Leo Pride, and how he became the strongest trainer who ever lived...
Rated M for mature themes, violence, language, drugs, minor nudity/sexuality
Zero
Chapter Zero - Prologue
Zero
"Fuck you!"
'Smack!'
"Why don't you say that again, boy!" The sound of flesh hitting flesh bounced off the faded blue walls. The paint was peeling heavily, inside and outside, and there was a constant musky scent that permeated the home. It was clearly beginning to rot from the inside-out.
Lifting himself from the splinter-laden floorboards, Leopold Ignatius Pride III glared heavily through his bangs. His hair, frosted white at the tips and unnaturally black at the roots, was messily sticking to his cheeks and forehead as sweat ran in rivulets down his face.
Icy blue eyes glinted dangerously in the poor light of the decrepit basement, flashing towards the thin bar of metal that he'd hidden under the worn-out love-seat weeks ago.
Entirely without thought, Leo kicked off a dirty blue/white converse from his foot and right into the face of the man lumbering imposingly above him. He was distracted long enough that Leo had managed to pull up the pipe and hide it beneath his back before the massive man could see anything.
Removing the offending shoe from his puffy face, Leopold Ignatius Pride II grabbed his son by the front of his shirt and hauled him into the air. The child's feet dangled helplessly beneath him, making the much larger, much meatier man laugh cruelly.
"Maybe this'll teach you to be more obedient, you little shit!" As the red-faced man pulled back a thick fist to discipline the child dangling from his fist, Leo (The III)'s foot lashed out with lightning precision, nailing the overgrown Walrein in between the legs.
Dropping his son, the man howled in agony as he clutched his crotch, not noticing Leo's desperate scramble for the stairs.
His ears catching the pounding of footsteps and the creak of old wood, 'Mr. Pride' chased half-blindly after his deviant son, tripping his way up the rickety staircase. Slamming the plain, peeling door behind him as he flew past, Leo almost shrieked in terror when he heard his father explode through the door, tearing it off its hinges and sending splinters all over the stained carpet.
Mr. Pride was literally bellowing as he chased the small child into the kitchen, looking for all intents and purposes like a furious piece of sentient Jello, the house shaking as he stampeded through his home.
With surprising dexterity, the man lunged for his son, the child's legs just slipping through his fingers as Leo hopped barefooted onto the countertop and through the open window above the sink.
Sounding very much like an angry Tyranitar as he vocalized his rage to the heavens, Mr. Pride's expletives followed the terrified Leo as he flew down the hill behind his home. He startled a family of young Wishmur from where they'd been hiding, and an energetic Houndour took his mad dash as a challenge, and raced after him.
As night fell, Leo continued to run, and run, and run, until his breathing came in short, painful bursts and his vision went fuzzy. Though he didn't know it, by the time he passed out from exhaustion, he'd hit the streets of Mauville town.
Though ordinary for most, for Leo, it would be a town of beginnings.
Zero
So... I totally shouldn't be starting this, when I'm preparing Spliced, but it wouldn't leave me alone until I had it down and... well... give your feedback! Please? Although, there really isn't much to go off of just from the prologue...
Meh. Anyway, I know it's going to be epic, so just wait for the next chapter and you'll see!
Fixed one or two spelling mistakes as well, just in case anyone cared enough to notice. Also improved a few oddly-worded sentences, makes the paragraphs flow more nicely.