Chapter 2: Shocking Discoveries
Maverick's head pounded with pain. That was the first thing he was aware of when he woke up. Then he saw a clear blue sky overhead. There was nothing unusual there. Then he noticed the trees surrounding him. If he remembered correctly, the Hall of Origin had no trees. Then he noticed that his head was on something soft…and warm. That something was definitely not grass, leaves, moss, or twigs…or anything else a forest might have.
Instantly bolting upright, he bit back the urge to scream as his whole body reacted to the rapid movement with instant pain. He flopped back on the ground and noticed that the soft thing that his head was resting upon was a thick black coat with blue on the edges. The sleeves had a pointed look to them.
"What the…?"
Maverick's head hurt too much for him to give it much thought…until he heard a voice. He couldn't tell if it was calling for him or not, but it was definitely getting closer. When the voice was close enough for Maverick to hear it properly, he was surprised at what he heard.
"Master! Master, are you okay? Don't move! You're hurt, remember?"
Suddenly, a raven-haired man was by his side, leaning over him. He looked around 19 years old, bordering on 20 years old. He was wearing a white dress shirt with a wavy look to the bottom edge of it, little holes punched into each wave. A pair of black pants, probably made of the same material as the jacket Maverick was resting on, and a pair of yellow-orange loafers completed the look.
Maverick was spooked by a few strange things about this guy.
For one, a small golden trident seemed to be attached to the man's forehead, parting his black bangs down the middle. Those same bangs seemed to be blue along the edges around where his eyes were.
For two, the man's fingernails were painted dark yellow and seemed to be pointed. They almost looked like…claws, maybe talons. Maverick briefly wondered if the man's toenails were the same way.
For three, the man had deep blue eyes that seemed so familiar to Maverick. It was almost like he knew the strange man. He couldn't remember seeing him anywhere, though. Maverick was pretty sure he would remember this strange guy if he had seen him in public. Strange…
"Master, are you okay?" the man asked again, touching Maverick's forehead. "Maybe you have a fever. Alec told me that humans usually give weird looks if they're sick."
Alec? Maverick faintly remembered that being the name of his Alakazam. Funny, he thought. How would this guy know that? Or maybe he's talking about somebody else.
"You feel fine to me," the man said. He sighed in relief. "That's good! I wouldn't want you to be sick on top of being injured. I've never seen an attack like that one before. I wonder what it was."
"Who…are you?" Maverick finally asked. "Why are you…calling me 'Master'?"
The man blinked in shock before smiling. "Because you're my master, Master!" he replied. Then he suddenly gasped. "Wait! You can understand what I'm saying?"
"Why not? It's not like you're a Pokemon." Maverick joked.
The man clapped his hands over his mouth, eyes wide in shock. "But…I am a Pokemon! Master, it's me! Leon!"
"Leon? As in…my Empoleon?" Maverick asked, gingerly sitting up.
The man nodded.
"…Okay, quit it. This isn't funny!" Maverick demanded. "I don't know who you are, but you better stop it! Where am I? How do you know me? And where's Leon?"
"I am Leon, Master!" the man insisted. "We went up that glowing staircase and met that weird guy. We battled him and he kept blocking my attacks by changing his type with those Elemental Plates of his. Then he hit us with some weird attack. I think he teleported us to Eterna Forest, Master."
"Quit calling me that!" Maverick shouted. He gasped in pain, clutching his chest. Taking a deep breath, he continued. "If this is some prank, it's pretty dumb. Leon's a Pokemon, not a human."
"I know! That's why I'm confused!" the man cried. "Why can you understand me, Master? Wait! You said human, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?" Maverick asked, gasping for breath. His chest ached from yelling.
"Do I…look like a human to you, Master?" the man asked hesitantly.
"No, you look like a Buizel. Of course you look human to me!" Maverick snapped. "What about it?"
"Could that weird guy…?" The man ran a hand through his hair and groaned. "Master, I need you to listen to me. Everything I'm about to tell you is true."
"If it'll help me figure out what kind of dumb prank you're pulling, I'll listen." Maverick grumbled.
"This isn't a prank, Master. Honest," the man said.
"Whatever," Maverick said.
"Master… I think that weird Pokemon, Arceus, cursed you," the man stated.
"Cursed me? Why?" Maverick asked.
"Arceus was mad at us because he thought we stole the Azure Flute from him. Maybe he cursed you in revenge," the man suggested. "He seemed to really hate humans and the idea that humans captured Pokemon. But that doesn't explain why he would let you see me, and possibly the rest of the team, like this."
"Wrong," a voice said. "You've got the right idea but the wrong reasons, Empoleon."
The man and Maverick whirled around, spotting the strange man from the Hall of Origin. He was seated on a branch in a tree, which he proceeded to leap from. Landing perfectly on his feet, the strange man proceeded to stand up and walk toward the pair. He smiled at the sight of the man, currently claiming to be Leon, placing himself between him and Maverick.
"Even in that form, you still put yourself in harms way for a human. I truly don't understand why a Pokemon would do such a thing, considering how much humanity has injured and killed Pokemon," the strange man said.
"What are you doing?" Maverick asked, looking at the raven-haired man in shock.
"Protecting you, Master," the raven-haired man replied. "That is my job. I promised that I would protect you after we battled that Onix in Oreburgh Mine. Remember, Master?"
Maverick's eyes widened in shock as the memory resurfaced.
Maverick smiled, tossing a Poke Ball at the Zubat and capturing it. "I caught a Zubat! Awesome!" He turned and smiled at Leon, a Piplup back then. "Great job, Leon! You'll be the strongest in no time!"
"Piplup pip!" Leon nodded.
"Now then, the last Pokemon to find in this place in an Onix. Let's get searching, Leon." Maverick said, pocketing the Zubat's Poke Ball.
After nearly an hour of searching, Maverick began to lose hope of finding an Onix. Back then, he had been obsessed about catching every single new Pokemon he came across. If he failed, he became depressed. Despite Maverick's fading hope, Leon encouraged his trainer to keep searching.
Leon's encouragement brought them success…at a price.
They had finally found an Onix, but it wasn't about to roll over and let itself be captured. It was throwing out every move in its arsenal and Leon was growing tired of dodging. Maverick eventually tossed out a few Poke Balls in the hopes of catching it, failing due to its high stamina.
"Leon, use Bubble!" Maverick ordered.
"Pi…PLUP!" Leon fired bubbles from his beak.
The Onix shuddered as it grew soaked, only to react violently by using Rock Throw. Leon gasped as a huge rock was sent flying his way. It was big enough to flatten him! Realizing he couldn't evade it fast enough, Leon ducked and curled into a ball on the ground to await his oncoming death.
…It never came.
Opening his deep blue eyes, the Piplup gasped in shock as he found Maverick standing over him on his hands and knees. Blood ran down from behind the boy's left ear, scarlet drops dripping onto Leon's feathers. The huge boulder crashed to the ground by Maverick's side, allowing the boy to collapse beside his Piplup.
"Are you…okay, buddy?" Maverick wheezed, blood running from the corner of his mouth.
"Pip…" Leon whimpered, tears welling up in his eyes. Furious, he turned to face Onix. "Piplup! Piplup pip! Piplup!"
The Onix growled in response.
"Piplup! Piplup pip! Piplup pip! Pip!" Leon cried.
The Onix growled louder, growing angry.
"Piplup pip! Piplup! Pip…" Tears ran freely down Leon's cheeks. "Piplup pip…"
The Onix roared in anger, hurling another huge rock at Leon. This time, the Piplup was ready. Sucking in the biggest breath he possibly could, Leon unleashed as many bubbles as possible. The force of the barrage shoved the boulder back, crashing it into Onix's head. The rock snake roared in pain, crashing to the ground.
"Piplup?" Leon suddenly realized what he had to do now. He dashed back to Maverick. "Piplup pip! Pip!"
"Huh?" Maverick struggled to look up. "You…did it. Good job…buddy." He fainted.
Leon had taken care of capturing the Onix, later called Flint. He had seen Maverick do it a dozen times, so it hadn't been too hard to accomplish. Once that was done, Leon took to dragging his trainer out of the mine by himself. The wild Pokemon stayed away, wary of the Piplup's power.
The moment they were outside, Leon vowed to protect Maverick from harm for the rest of his life.
Maverick just stared at the raven-haired man in shock. How…? How did he know about that? Unless…
Struggling to his feet, the boy stumbled forward. The man instantly whirled around, catching Maverick in his arms. Maverick buried his face in the white shirt, taking in the scent coming from it.
"Leon… It really is you." Maverick whispered.
The man, Leon the Empoleon, smiled. "I told you, Master. Have I ever lied to you before?"
"How would I know? I couldn't understand you before." Maverick reminded, smiling faintly.
He never took his eyes off of Leon's human face. He was definitely a handsome-looking man. Maverick envied the lucky girl who got to end up with him.
Wait! What am I thinking? Maverick mentally shouted. I'm a guy, too! And Leon's a Pokemon to boot! I'm straight! STRAIGHT!
Leon never noticed his trainer blushing, having turned his attention back to the strange man. "You must be Arceus," he commented.
"Indeed, I am," the strange man nodded.
"You said I was wrong. Mind explaining to me why you did this then?" Leon asked. "Why can Master see me in this form? Why can he speak to me? Why did you curse him to begin with?"
"The first two questions have the exact same answer," the strange man, Arceus, explained. "What your trainer is seeing is your Gijinka form, a human-like form that Pokemon have. Humans can't see it unless they're blessed with a special sight by Legendary Pokemon. With that sight, a human can see your human-like form and speak to you as if you knew the human language. Unfortunately, this makes the trainer look a tad…crazy…in reality to onlookers."
"What about my third question?" Leon asked. "Why curse my Master?"
"He made one simple statement that irked me to no end," Arceus replied. "He said he understood you. He said he knew everything about you. I cursed him to prove him wrong."
"You did this to prove a point?" Leon shouted.
"Huh? Hey, what's going on?" Maverick asked, forced back into reality by his Gijinka Empoleon's shout.
"Humans think they know everything, essentially making the world theirs to govern and control. I'm afraid life does not work that way." Arceus said simply.
"Reverse it," Leon growled. "Reverse that curse right now, Arceus!"
"Or what?" Arceus challenged. "Kill me and it'll stay permanent. Injure me and I might choose to kill you both."
"I'll take that chance!" Leon yelled, charging. "Metal Claw!"
"Fool! You still think you can defeat me with such attacks?" Arceus chuckled, raising his arms to cross over his face and block the attack. "Have you forgotten my Elemental Plates already?"
"I could care less about those stupid plates!" Leon shouted, slashing his glowing claw-like fingernails at the older man.
Arceus, instead of activating his Elemental Plates, simply stepped back before lunging forward and crashing into Leon. Leon gasped as his back hit the ground, temporarily stunned. Arceus took no time in grabbing the Empoleon Gijinka's neck with one hand, pinning him to the ground. Leon struggled but couldn't throw him off.
"Give up," Arceus said coldly. "I am a Legendary. You are just a normal Pokemon. You stand no chance against me."
"I don't care!" Leon snarled.
Then the raven-haired man did something shocking. Freeing on arm, Leon pulled back a fist and punched Arceus as hard as he could. Arceus cried out in pain and shock, leaping off and away from Leon. Clutching his throbbing cheek with one hand, he glared hatefully at Leon.
"Legendary or not, I'm going to make you reverse that curse you put on my Master." Leon vowed.
"Not until he truly understands his Pokemon," Arceus replied. "Once he understands how little he truly knew about you and them, then I'll reverse it. Until then, the curse stays."
Leon growled, sharp fingernails digging into his palms in frustration.
"Now then, I simply came to give you a warning." Arceus said. "It won't just be that boy's Pokemon that he can see in a Gijinka form. Any Pokemon he comes across, wild or captured by other trainers, will also be in a human-like form. They may choose to speak with you. Be careful. Your Master, if he chooses to converse with them or you in public, may be considered crazy."
"You actually care if he's deemed crazy?" Leon asked.
"…No," Arceus replied. "I'd prefer not being forced to break into a mental hospital in order to reverse his curse, though."
I knew it, Leon thought, frowning. Are all Legendaries like this toward humans? Mesprit seems okay in my book but still…
"Now then, I've told you what needed to be told. Now I'll take my leave." Arceus said, turning his back on the pair. "I'll check in every once in a while."
"Why?" Leon asked, confused.
"Because I just remembered a little snag in that curse," Arceus replied, glaring over his shoulder at Maverick. "From the moment I placed it upon your Master, I ended up bound with a contract that forces me to ensure he doesn't die while my curse is still on him."
"What'll happen if I do die?" Maverick asked hesitantly.
"Something very, very bad," Arceus replied gravely. "Now then, I'm off. Don't do anything to get yourself killed, human."
Arceus teleported away before Leon or Maverick could say anything else to him.
"Well…now what?" Maverick asked.
"Are you feeling better, Master?" Leon questioned, kneeling beside the younger boy.
"A little," Maverick said. "Have you always called me Master, Leon?"
"Since the day we met," Leon nodded, smiling. "Why? Do you not like being called 'Master', Master?"
"No, it's okay! I just found it…odd, I guess." Maverick quickly said.
"Oh," Leon lowered his head slightly.
"Do the others call me that?" Maverick asked.
"Yes," Leon nodded again. "We all do, even the ones in storage call you Master."
"Okay," Maverick said.
There was an awkward silence between them for a while. Leon was the one to break it, growing nervous.
"Maybe you should let the others out." Leon suggested. "I'm sure they'd love to hear that you can see our Gijinka forms."
"Um… Sure?" Maverick agreed, a little worried. What if some of them hate me? Is Arceus right? How much do I really know about my Pokemon?
Reaching toward his belt, he unhooked the other five Poke Balls he had and swallowed back his fear. Pressing the buttons on them, he tossed them forward. He said a quick prayer under his breath as five beams of white light erupted from the Poke Balls.
"Come on out, guys!" he cried. Arceus, please don't let them hate me! I haven't been too bad of a trainer…right?
When the five figures emerged, Maverick just stared in shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Whoa," was all he could say.