"Really? An absol?" Gardenia asks surprised after Leon and Zoey had recounted what had happened last night.
"Yep," Leon says simply, scratching a little at the bandage on his cheek.
"You think it will scar?" Lana asks.
"I highly doubt it. It didn't bleed too much. So it had to be shallow," Leon says as glameow jumped onto Zoey's lap.
"Hey, girl," Zoey says softly, petting her back as she moves under her hand.
"Looks like she is also looking after you," Leon says smirking.
"One of my first pokemon. Of course, she would be," Zoey says proudly.
"How is your ankle?" Lana asks.
"Fine," Zoey informs, lightly touching her ankle.
"So what are we going to do? Make camp here for a few more days?" Lana asks.
"Don't want to risk Zoey's ankle, so yeah," Leon says, sounding worried.
"Maybe you'll get lucky and see that absol again," Zoey points out.
"Doubt it. Besides, need to make sure you don't twist that ankle again and I have to check to see if it is healing," Leon says, keeping watch on her ankle.
"Oh, this is sweet," Gardenia says smirking.
"I'm just making sure she won't damage her ankle anymore," Leon says concerned.
"You care," Gardenia says smirking.
"Concerned. It's just the doctor in me talking," Leon says dismissively.
Gardenia says nothing as she giggles a bit.
Leon rolls his eyes unamused. "So…what's there to eat?"
"Well," Lana says before they look at a plate before stopping as there was a zubat there eating one of the berries.
Leon sighs and hangs his head. "Okay…um…I'll cook. Zoey needs to eat…wait. I think I know you," Leon says looking close at the zubat now.
"Where from?" Zoey asks.
"This is the same zubat I got away from the fish with berries," Leon says.
Zubat cheers happily with its screech before going back to munching on the berries.
"So it followed us back?" Zoey asks.
"Looks like…maybe he followed the smell of berries…who wants to catch him?" Leon asks before zubat flies at him and covers his head. "Never mind," he quickly says and puts down an empty pokeball. "Once you've had your fill, get in," he says, letting zubat fly back to the berries and return to eating them.
"And once again, pokemon are drawn to you," Zoey teases as Fury wakes up.
"No, they aren't," Leon states.
Zoey chuckles as Fury goes to eating the large fruits.
"So what are you up to?" Leon says, walking to Fury whose nose flairs and looks at him, smelling blood.
Fury eyes dart all around him before spotting the bandaged area and growl at it.
"We were attacked on the way back," Leon informs.
Fury keeps growling, wanting a piece of the one who attacked him.
"Don't worry," Leon says, scratching her head and tries calming her down.
Fury huffs and keeps an eye on them, still growling lowly.
"Now then, shall we get back to training?" Leon asks.
Fury nods, still keeping an eye out around them.
"Alright, take to the sky," Leon says after climbing on her back.
Fury takes out, still looking around and keeping an eye out for what could attack Leon.
"They have already run off by a white pokemon. We call it absol," Leon says as they flew around as a familiar group of three spotted them.
Fury roars loudly at them and makes them scurry away.
"Leave them be. We have no time for them. We are now working on training," Leon says.
Fury huffs and keeps flying around now, trying to keep herself steady.
"Fury, show me how fast you are," Leon says, holding on tight.
Fury growls excited before flapping her wings hard and takes off faster, breaking apart a low cloud in half. Fury growls questionably back up to him as he leans low against her back.
"Now this is fun," Leon says smiling, not knowing a group of trainers had found his camp.
About half an hour later, Leon and Fury returned to the camp to see Ash's group there to Leon's surprise. Though at first, Fury thought it was a new pack coming to challenge.
"Hey now!" Leon complains when Fury charges and Leon immediately leans over around in his position and brings Fury down into the ground, sliding to a stop. "Fury…say hello to our friends…ow," Leon groans, laying against the ground with Fury on top of him.
"And this is Fury, Leon's fossil pokemon," Zoey introduced.
Fury growls disoriented.
"Not our enemies. In fact, these are friends," Leon says, petting her head.
Fury groans and stands up again, letting Leon up as she keeps an eye on Ash's group.
"Whoa. An aerodactyl," Ash says a bit excited as Dawn got the pokedex entry on Fury while Fury stares at Pikachu, never seen anything like it before.
"Pika," Pikachu spoke up, holding up a paw in greeting.
"Aero," Fury greets in return, still giving a questionable look.
"She has never seen the pokemon we have nowadays," Leon says petting her as he takes a seat at the table where a stuffed zubat was laying.
"That explains a bit," Brock says, all of them watching Fury poke Pikachu into the stomach and makes him pat the top of her muzzle.
"So you full?" Leon asks, rubbing the zubat's stomach area.
Zubat cheers happily, but weakly as it tries to lift its head.
"You want to come with me?" Leon asks.
Zubat lifts up a wing and cheers weakly.
"Alright then," Leon says before getting out a pokeball and lightly taps zubat before he is sucked into the pokeball.
"Not bad," Zoey says a bit proudly while scratching a bit around her ankle wrappings.
"So what were you talking about before I got back?" Leon says, knowing team rocket had to be close.
"Informing Dawn the Hearthome contest is a double performance," Zoey says.
"Ah, ok," Leon says as the pokeball disappears. "Oh, we should warn them of those zangooses," Leon says.
"Right. We just faced some zangoose in the forest and they are really mad. So watch yourself," Zoey tells them while Leon digs into his bag and looks to his pokedex for who he has at the moment.
"They weren't mad, they were hungry," Leon says.
"So it only got mad after your comment?" Zoey asks.
"Basically, yes," Leon informs as they start to tell them what happened.
"I can't believe you made it still," Dawn says surprised at this.
"Well, it wasn't easy," Leon says, referring to his bandage.
"But only a small cut? That's actually pretty good," Dawn says, almost proud of his bravery.
"So I am going to head out and train for a bit more. Fury, you stay here and watch over the camp, alright?" Leon asks.
Fury growls and flies up to a branch and perches in it.
"Ippo, Amber, Beacon. Come on you three," Leon calls to the tent.
The three pokemon crawls out of the tent before walking over to him, all of them looking like they want to sleep more.
"Time to train you three," Leon before clapping his hands.
They all immediately perk up as Beacon gives one last yawn before giving him his battle face.
"We will start with a run, so come on," Leon says before starting to jog off into the woods, the three pokemon following close behind.
"And he trains his pokemon hard," Dawn says, all of them watching the four run off.
"That's right," Leon says as they jogged for going on two hours now to improve their stamina.
The three pokemon follow alongside him. As they trained, Ippo fairing the best out of all four of them before Leon stops as something stepped into the road in front of them.
The absol in front of them noticed their presence and gives a sideways look to them as they all come to a dead stop.
"It's you, huh?" Leon asks.
She kept her eyes on them as neither side moved an inch.
"Absol, I wish to battle you. If we can defeat you, will you join us?" Leon asks.
Absol now turns to them, giving a battle ready stance as her tail whips around behind her.
"Who wants to battle first?" Leon asks.
"Mon!" Amber cheers and jumps in front of them, her tail fire becoming bigger from the excitement.
"Alright then. Amber, mach punch, let's go," Leon calls.
Amber grins as her fist glows brightly before she disappears and then reappears in front of absol, smacking her straight in the cheek before absol slowly turns back against the mach punch and then jumps and kicks Amber away in a flip, sending Amber sliding before Leon again.
"Now disappear into the trees," Leon calls.
Amber jumps off into the tree line, absol herself looking around for Amber, ready to strike at a moment's notice as her tails glow brightly.
Leaves suddenly rustle and absol's ears flicked up before she jumps back, getting away from a mach punch that made a hole in the ground. Absol then lands before jumping off toward Amber and then quickly spins around as she ducks, Amber tries to swing her other hand before feeling a hard hit sent her flying back into a tree while absol's tail's glow starts to die down.
"Okay…Amber?" Leon calls, making Amber groan as she gets up and rubs her head.
"Mon," Amber grunts, standing up again and keeps her attention on absol.
"Okay. Unsteady and then go for it," Leon instructs and Amber follows by using leer.
Absol growls a little as the leer gets to her a little before Amber fires off some ember and the little puffs of fire miss when absol jumps and her horn glows. Amber quickly grows a punch that had a mach punch ready and absol had no time to move in the air before getting a punch to the neck, but Amber's strike made absol's psycho cut strike across Amber.
Leon watches in some pain when both absol and Amber is sent flying away, Amber flying into a bush as she groans in pain while absol is sent flying across the path, skidding to a stop. Amber groans and struggles to get up, landing on the ground in some pain.
"Amber…" Leon starts and makes her turn to him. "…combine two moves. I'm sure you can come up with a good one."
Amber smiles before turning back to absol as she gets back and gets into a stance again. Amber cries out before using the flame wheel and covers herself in a fire while spinning. Leon smiles all the while as Amber took off rolling and aiming at absol. Absol herself smiling a bit now and prepares to use another psycho cut and reels her head back.
Amber fires out as she approaches and quickly comes out of the flame wheel in a shower of flames and makes absol see the lit up fist coming at her. Absol immediately tries to swing her head around and swipes across Amber, but the punch keeps coming and, with absol's attack, spins Amber just enough to swing down onto absol's head. Absol gets a face full of dirt as Amber slides past her, knocked out and groaning in pain.
Absol shakes herself as she stands again, but Leon can see her knees shake slightly. 'She's certainly injured,' he thinks before Ippo steps forward and gets in front of him.
Ippo grunts and gets into a stance. Absol herself bending her front end down before taking off as quickly as she can. Ippo becoming surprised at the speed while absol's claws gain a shadowy aura in the shape of a dark claw. Ippo quickly knocks the attack away with the back of his hand and punches absol in the chest. Absol counters and moves up her other set of claws and strikes down onto Ippo's arm when he blocked it. Ippo kept trying to strike away when the opening happened and gets more than one at times. Absol is then able to deflect off a palm strike to the side and stabs her claws into Ippo who then punches her hard in the head. Leon watching it all with pride on his face as absol is sent away.
Absol shakily stood up again before her mouth opens and dark ball of energy grows in size before it is sent to Ippo before he could react that much. Once the shadow ball hits, Ippo holds it in place, grabbing onto it and then punching it into the ground. Absol gasps in shock as Ippo kicks it back to her, instincts kicking in and her shadow claws activating as she jumps and flips. Her shadow claws pushing onto the shadow ball under it and flipping it around. Once she comes full circle, she sends it right and Ippo gives a karate chop to it, making it explode in his face.
Absol lands and watches the smoke dissipate to show Ippo slightly bruised, still holding his hands up, ready to continue fighting. They both stare at each other, waiting for one to move. Leon then sees a butterfree fly towards them and once the wings flap in their vision, they both took off at each other, the butterfree flying away from the ensuing battle.
Absol swings herself around and strikes hard with a powerful iron tail. Ippo grabs the tail and punches hard into her side before tossing her hard into the ground. Absol immediately swings around and latches onto his arm with bite, her teeth digging into his skin. Ippo takes this chance and keeps punching her side while focusing his energy, the glowing aura around his form growing in size and brightness. Absol then shadow claws him and pushes on his chest, cutting him a bit as she lands in front of him. The horn starting to glow brightly while Ippo groans and struggles to hold up his fists. Absol growls loudly and charges off as she quickly as she can before swinging her head down hard, Ippo blocking the strike with his arm and comes down with an energy-focused karate chop. Absol blinks as she slowly looks at the glowing hand and then falls to the ground, very weak at this moment.
Leon steps up as Ippo falls back, tired and weak. Leon returns Amber and Ippo as Beacon steps up behind him. He then bends down to absol and holds up an empty pokeball in front of her vision. She shakily nods her head and he taps it against her side as she closes her eyes. When she is fully sucked in, the ball shakes once before it stops and dings. Leon smiles and starts to walk back to camp as the butterfree finally flies along the path, seeing as the battle is over and lands on his head before staying there.
"You aren't cheating on Breeze, are you?" Zoey jokes, seeing the butterfree hasn't left his head yet.
"Nah. Just a passing pokemon. Possibly smelled the food on me," Leon explains and holds up a berry to it, which it took before flying off and nibbling on it.
"It is still funny," Zoey says pushing glameow off her lap. Leon rolls his eyes amused before getting closer to her ankle and looks it over. "Where's Amber and Ippo?" Zoey asks.
"Funny thing, absol appeared and I challenged it to a fight. She accepted and I had both of them fight. Amber did some major damage but Ippo is the one to take her down. I caught her when she accepted that as well," Leon explains as best he could, unwrapping the bandages.
"So that is two more pokemon you have added to your group," Zoey says as they watch the fishing rod for a bite.
Leon hums as he rewraps her bandages around harder, making sure to keep the blood flowing. "Not too tight you can't feel anything?"
"No, I can still feel it," Zoey says as glameow meowed happily from the brushing Zoey is now giving.
"Good," Leon says, sitting down next to her and watches the fish bobble. "So…any good catch? Maybe one that glameow doesn't want?" he jokes a bit, making glameow raise an eyebrow at him.
"I think I got a bite," Zoey says before putting the brush down and grabs the rod.
"Great," Leon says, holding up a hand up, ready to help pull it in.
"Get a net, just in case," Zoey instructs,
Leon nods as he grabs the net nearby as Zoey kept pulling and reeling in the line before it comes close enough. Zoey laughs as she pulls up hard and takes out a finneon that splashes around before it gets off the hook. Leon tries to move the net under it to catch, but misses and a splash are heard. "Aw man."
"Glameow, quickly use thunderbolt!" Zoey calls.
"Glam!" glameow cries out as her whole body starts to spark before a bolt of lightning went away from her and flies into the water, shocking the area. Both humans smiled at the sight as the attack ended before a fish pokemon came up and glared angrily at them.
"Your battle Zoey," Leon says backing off a bit as the butterfree came back and watched with interest as it lands on his head again.
Zoey smiles as she still sat down on the ground. "Alright glameow. Give another thunderbolt," she calls out and glameow meows loudly before firing off a lightning bolt, shocking the water again and makes sparks fly across the pokemon, paralyzing it for a few moments.
"Now is your chance," Leon calls.
Zoey quickly grabs her empty pokeball and throws it, hitting the pokemon spot on. Leon smiles as the pokemon is sucked in and it closes while starting to shake in the water. Leon chuckles proudly as the ball shakes a few times before it stops and dings. Leon pats her shoulder. "Not bad," Leon says before going to get it for her. "This makes your fourth pokemon on hand," Leon says grabbing the ball when a hand reaches up and grabs his wrist from under the water.
"Surprise!" Lana cheers as she bursts out of the water.
"Lana, you scared me for a moment," Leon says as Zoey chuckles.
Lana giggles and sticks her tongue out at him. "So I saw you caught another. That's your what, the third pokemon caught today?"
"This one is Zoey's. I am just getting it for her because she is still confined to the chair," Leon explains.
"Oh. Congratulations Zoey," Lana says proudly before climbing out of the water and feels Leon eye her. "Yes?" she asks, turning and seeing him eye her swimwear.
"Is that what you wear under your clothes?" Leon asks.
Lana nods. "Yep," she says simply and looks proud about it.
Leon says nothing as he knew from Zoey's look, they were going shopping for two in the next city.
"Well, I think that's enough fish for today. Leon, a little help?" Zoey asks, holding her hands out and Leon walks over before pulling her up and leans her against him before carrying her bag of fish and rod as she follows, slowly while hopping.
"You coming Lana?" Leon calls.
"Sure," Lana says stretching before following them.
"So?" Leon whispers to Zoey.
"We will be shopping for two basically," Zoey whispers to him.
"My thought exactly," Leon whispers back.
"Though hers will be more private," Zoey whispers and Leon catches her drift.
"Right," Leon says, wrapping his basket bag around her, keeping her up as they kept walking.