Three years ago he had been Wes, the hero of Orre, now he was Leo the Wanderer. Such was the natural way of life for someone like him, draw too much attention to yourself, positive or negative and you'll have to change your identity for your own safety. Or in this case, the safety of the person currently riding in his side car. Her name was Lili, and she was the last of the Shadows he had helped those years ago.
She was a large bodied Tropius Gijinka from the badlands north of Mt. Battle. She had short green hair and wore a necklace in the shape of the fruits that grew from her Pokémon counterparts' necks. Her thin, leafy green wings fluttered behind her as they drove over the desert. At the moment she was wearing a brown leather jacket with brown cargo pants and a green t-shirt, as well as a pair of spare riding goggles Leo had lying around.
Leo was the same as he always was, same white hair, same blue coat, same snag machine on his left arm. Or at least he thought he was the same as he always was, because he didn't want to think about how battling Cipher had changed him as a person.
It was about noon, about four hours since they'd set out that morning, when their destination finally came into view. It was a small village on the edge of the badlands, huddled around an oasis. If he had to guess, Leo would say it probably didn't contain more than 300 people. If he had found this place before Snagam found him, Leo wondered if this might be the sort of place he would've liked to settle down.
It was in a faraway place where very few could find it. Sure, a world map would say it's part of the Orre Region, but that didn't mean that what was left of the government had any power here. But, Leo was no longer the person that could've lived here, away from the chaos and the violence that had put him on his path so long ago, so there was no point in thinking about what that person could've had.
As they parked on the edge of town, Lili was the first to get out. Leo supposed he didn't blame her, though admittedly the idea of having a family you'd actually want to reunite with was more or less foreign to him. As Lili ran towards the gate into the town, she stopped and turned back to Leo.
"Come on Leo! Don't make me wait for you!" Lili called out. They had agreed not to leave each other's sight until Lili was home, with her family, and they knew she was safe. Just because Cipher was defunct didn't mean they didn't still have enemies. So Leo got up from his bike and followed her through the gate, all the while keeping his head on a swivel.
The town was built along two main roads that intersect at the center of town. The first thing the pair did was head to that center intersection. Along the way a few of the town's residents took notice, but the duo didn't seem to keep their attention for long. Just from what he saw on the street, the town didn't have many humans, causing him to stick out more. It seemed mostly inhabited by Ground and Flying types, though there were some Grass types that he'd guess had either migrated from the west or had been the original inhabitants back when this area was green.
Whatever the case they reached the center of town and Lili started to look around. After a moment she put her hand to her temple as she concentrated. "Just, give me a moment to think." Leo remained silent, memory problems were common among the former Shadows. To an extent it was both a blessing and curse since for most of them it meant that they couldn't remember what Cipher did to them to turn them into the snarling, violent brutes they had been when he first met them those years ago.
After a bit short of a minute she looked up and pointed down the north-western road. "I think… I think my family and I live that way." She started moving towards that road before she hesitated. Leo gave her an assuring nod and followed her down the road, still keeping an eye open for anyone who might be following them.
They went slowly, so that Lili could look at each home they passed. One by one she dismissed each house, "I don't remember this place" or "I don't think I know the people inside". After nearly an hour of not seeing anyone or thing that she recognized, both Lili and Leo started to get worried. They'd seen this happen before, some of the other former Shadows' memories were simply too far gone to find where they came from, or by the time they did there was no one left to welcome them home. But a moment later those fears were quashed as Lili was tackled by a short woman in a green dress.
"Lilian! Is it really you sweetheart!?" The woman, a human who was shorter than either Leo or Lili, had pulled the confused Tropius into a hug. After a moment though, Lili's eyes widened, and filled with tears.
"Momma?" Lili asked, her voice barely more than whisper. Then she hugged the woman back so hard Leo was worried she might hurt the lady, given how strong Lili was. "Yea momma, it's me, I'm home."
The woman —Lili's mother— looked over at Leo and smiled. "Are you the one who helped my little girl?"
"Yeah, he is." Lili answered for him, "If it wasn't for him, I'd still be lost, not knowing where I am or even really who I am."
"This is sweet, and I mean genuinely lovely, but can we save the rest of the reunion for once we've dealt with the guy who's been following us." All present turned their eyes to a Flareon that was approaching them along the road. Lili's mom tilted her head, confused. To her it just looked like a regular Flareon, not common in the area, but not threatening at all. But Leo and Lili were both experienced enough to recognize an enemy, no matter how unthreatening it may appear.
Leo's hand dropped down to the Pokéball holder on his belt. The Flareon glared at him and growled. A moment of stillness, and then it was like an eruption.
The Flareon rushed at them at the same moment as Leo let loose two Pokéballs, releasing an Espeon, by the name of Sai, and an Umbreon named Dusk. The Flareon was shrouded in a neigh-imperceptible shadowy aura and slammed into Dusk, knocking him back. Once upon a time, Leo was unable to see those auras, just like everyone else, but after spending so much time around them, he could practically taste them.
As soon as Lili heard Leo shout "It's a Shadow!" her wings flared up and she took to the sky. Meanwhile the Flareon was overwhelmed by an aura of shadowy fire. As the aura intensified it obscured the view of the Flareon as it grew and changed shape. When the aura faded, in the place of the Flareon was an emaciated man with hazy eyes wearing the charred and tattered remains of what probably used to be a lab coat.
Seeing his opponent transforming into a humanoid form, Leo decided to respond in kind. "Sai, with me!" The Espeon turned around and leapt on his shoulder, causing a near blinding flash of light once he landed. When the light faded, Sai was nowhere to be seen and Leo had changed. His hair had taken on the same color as an Espeon's fur, as did his coat. Hidden amongst his hair were ears just like an Espeon's, and a distinctive forked tail emerged from beneath his coat. The last notable change was a red gem on his forehead, just like an Espeon's, like everything else.
He raised his guard and charged at the man, side-stepping the fireballs he lobbed from his mouth. Once he closed the gap he landed an uppercut on the man's solar plexus, which he then enhanced with a point-blank Psychic from his fist. The man was sent flying into the air, where Dusk followed him by springboarding off of Leo's shoulder. As the man started to fall back to the ground, Dusk leapt up above him and slammed him into the ground with a Shadow Ball.
While many combatants would be out cold or worse, or at the very least surrender after consecutive heavy blows like that, Shadows were fighting machines that would keep fighting until their body completely shut down if they weren't restrained. The man looked up at Dusk from his place on the ground and spewed a Fire Spin from his mouth at the Umbreon, which could do little to dodge or defend while still in midair.
The gem on Leo's forehead flashed for a moment as he formed a Light Screen barrier around Dusk. The Barrier lessened the impact of the Fire Spin, but between the hits he'd already taken and the lingering vortex of flames that clung to the spherical barrier surrounding him, he faltered and hit the ground hard and layed there, not moving beyond shallow breaths.
"Dusk!" Leo shouted as he rushed towards his downed partner. The man spewed a Flamethrower at him as he unsteadily rose to his feet. Leo threw himself to the ground to duck under the flames, landing just close enough to reach out and touch Dusk. There was a flash of light as Dusk vanished and Sai reappeared at Leo's side.
All the things that Leo had gained from merging with Sai changed to match Dusk instead. An Umbreon's tail and ear, black hair and coat spotted with glowing yellow rings, and a matching yellow ring on his forehead. Without waiting for even a moment, Leo launched a Shadow Ball from his hands at the man, knocking him back, though he stayed on his feet.
"You have… 2 Bond partners?..." The man spoke for the first time since appearing. His voice was harsh and dry, as though he hadn't used it in a very long time. But indeed someone like Leo, who could merge with more than one Pokémon, while hardly the stuff of legends, were rare all the same. In Leo's entire life he'd probably met less than five other people with the same ability.
But the man's apparent bewilderment didn't last long as suddenly the air around him started to increase in temperature. Sweat rolled down Leo's cheek as the air around him went from 80 degrees, to 90, 100, 110, in just a few seconds the heat became unbearable. He rushed forward for a Quick Attack, hoping to knock the man out. His attack landed, but the man stayed upright and Leo regretted getting this close as the man launched a point-blank Overheat at him.
Leo was thrown back and rolled along the ground. He tried and failed to pull himself to his feet, smoke streaming from his burnt coat. If he wasn't for the Light Screen he'd placed earlier, he'd have been taken out of the fight completely. But, with how worn down Dusk was when they merged, he didn't have the energy to take any more heavy hits and Sai wasn't looking great even after avoiding the brunt of that Overheat.
The man's dark aura began to flare up again, becoming so thick that Leo wondered if even a regular person would be able to sense it. "Kill…" the man murmured as he prepared to end the fight. But before he could, Lili dropped out of the sky and landed directly on him, smashing him into the concrete below.
Finally Leo got to his feet and saw the man weakly struggling to push Lili off of him. But she held him firm and it was clear he no longer had the energy to fight. Leo slowly began to walk towards the man and activated his snag machine. It took a bit longer than usual for it to produce a Snag Ball, and it made some concerning noises given it was mounted to his dominant arm, but it still did it's job.
Normally, it's not possible for a Pokéball to outright capture a Gijinka in humanoid form, restrain maybe, register to a trainer, but not capture. Snag Balls had no such restriction. Just as Leo got ready to throw it, he heard a flute. Leo didn't think he'd ever hear the sound of that flute again, after it disintegrated into dust in his hands. Lili also raised her head and started looking for the source.
Walking along the road was a thin green-haired person wearing traditional Johtonian clothing. The person had green hair that stopped just above the shoulders. This person was not a man or woman, but was rather both and neither. Leo was the first to admit that he didn't really get it, but it wasn't really his business anyway. Either way, Celebi was a sight for sore eyes.
"Hey Sera, what brings you out here?" Leo asked, trying not to sound as tired as he was.
"Simply to do that which you will be unable to." Celebi replied before walking over to Lili and the pinned man and playing the Time Flute once more.
As the beautiful music washed over the man, he at last stopped struggling. The man's eyes cleared and he looked around with a confused expression, "Where… am I?" He then lost consciousness.
"Uh, that was very exciting…" Lili's mother said, reminding everyone of her presence. "So, Lilian, are you going to introduce me to your friends?"
About an hour later, everyone had made their way to Lili's parents' house and were gathered in the living room. Lili's mother and father, a Tropius Gijinka with a similar build to his daughter, were more or less ignoring everyone, instead focusing on giving Lili as much affection as possible. They only turned their attention to anyone else when Lili mentioned them while explaining what had happened to her, like Leo freeing her from her Cipher Handler at Realgam Colosseum and Celebi appearing to purify her when Leo played the Time Flute.
Meanwhile the man had finally come to and had just finished a glass of water and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, so finally Leo asked him a question. "So, do you remember who you are?"
The man nodded, "I do, I haven't forgotten much, even after this long. My name is Doctor Nicholas, I have a wife and two children, Michael, and Jovi. Jovi probably doesn't even remember my face, she wasn't even old enough to walk when I was taken. All Michael has to remind him of me is his own nature as an Eevee."
"And how did Cipher grab you?" Leo asked.
"After Cipher was defeated at Realgam Tower, a research team led by myself and my friend, Dr. Krane started working on a device to purify shadows more easily than the method the hero of Orre reportedly had to use. During our research I and a few team mates from my trainer days went to check out an old Cipher lab to see if their data or equipment could be used in our research. Make them contribute to preventing anyone else from repeating their crimes. But the lab wasn't entirely abandoned. Men in Copher uniforms, remnants maybe, or maybe the organization is still around somehow, were there doing the same thing, but for the opposite reason. We tried to stop them, I… I think I was the only survivor." His voice started to quiver when Leo held up a hand, he could guess how the rest went.
"It's okay Doctor. The worst is behind you, and now all we have to do is get you home to your family and this nightmare will be over." Leo reassured the Doctor, who was now trembling at the memories of the last three years.
"I'm afraid it won't be that simple." Celebi interject.
"I was afraid of that." Leo muttered in response.
"What!? Why not!?" The Doctor demanded, tears forming in his eyes.
"Because we'd be dead before we even passed Agate Town." Leo answered coldly. "Sera here came here to purify you because 'I wouldn't get the chance' was the wording there. Sera can travel through time, and as such knows more or less how the future will play out."
"Indeed, I have already witnessed a great number of futures where the two of you attempt to return to the more civilized parts of Orre, for a given metric of civilization." Celebi explained "Even with my assistance, you would not survive the journey. All I can do is give you two this warning, do not return home until the Cipher is truly destroyed. Which, if all goes as I have foreseen, should occur in roughly two years."
Nicholas slumped back in his seat. "Two years, two years until I can see my family again. I-I want to shout something like 'if you're supposed to be a time traveler, why don't you stop any of this from happening in the first place?' but I've spent enough time reading old Hisuian journals and the top theories out of Alola to know that you can't really do that can you? Some careful balance or restriction on how you can affect the past or something like that means that all these terrible things still have to happen."
"You are roughly correct. The truth is creating a perfect timeline is impossible, and even a good enough one is propped up by atrocities. What's more is that I only learned about Cipher and their evil, by joining the fight in my own way. I cannot undo such a major part of my own history without significant, and self-defeating, consequences" Celebi responded, before standing up. "I wish I could do more to help you but there is one thing I can do. I can deliver a gift from each of you to whoever you wish."
Leo stood up and did something that stunned those around him, even Sai and Dusk who had been napping on the couch throughout the conversation shot up in surprise. He took off his snag machine which he did only when absolutely necessary, completely de-tangling from his coat sleeve, something he'd not done even once since he took it from the hideout years ago. "If it's not me who's gonna take down Cipher, then whoever will is gonna need one of these, maybe even a better one. Take it to Nick's lab." He then pulled a sealed envelope from his back pocket, "And this… is for if I don't make it to see Cipher go down for good. If that happens, take this letter to Rui." Celebi accepted both without a word.
Nicholas, short of any worldly possessions, thought for a moment and took off his lab coat before turning to Lili's parents, who still weren't paying much attention. "Excuse, do you have any pens or markers I could borrow?" After retrieving a bright red maker, he wrote on the back of his lab coat in big bold letters.
HOPE
"Give this to my wife. That's all I can give her right now, hope." He said as he handed the coat to Celebi.
"Will that be all?" Celebi asked both of them. Both nodded their heads, yes that was it.
"I think I'll hang around here for a while," the Doctor said, "I arrived in this town a bit before you did, so I know where I can get a bed for the night." Leo gave him a thumbs up before turning to Lili.
"Hey, Lili. I'm gonna be heading out soon, so this is goodbye." He said casually. By this point, Lili had been with him longer than any other companion he'd ever had, barring Sai and Dusk. Soon he would be right back where he was when all this started, a wanderer all alone save for his two bond partners, with nowhere to call home. Of course, Leo wasn't the kind of guy to let on how much the thought of going back to how he used to be scared him.
"Yeah, it's been a long road, but this is finally the end isn't it, for me at least." Lili responded, not hiding the bittersweet feeling she had about parting ways with Leo.
"Road's not over yet, I've got one more destination ahead of me." Leo said solemnly, to which Lili merely nodded. She knew what that last destination might be, but also knew that whatever it was precisely, it was something Leo would face the same way he started.
"Indeed," Celebi responded. "If you like, I can call upon the Three Beasts to accompany you, but I suspect I already know what you'll say."
"Yeah, I want to do this, just the three of us," he gestured at Sai and Dusk. "I'm not the same as I was back then, but that doesn't mean I've changed completely."
"I understand." was all Celebi said.
As Leo turned towards the door, he was suddenly pulled into a hug by Lili, "Hey, don't be a stranger, even if we aren't traveling together that doesn't mean we aren't still friends. So please stop by if you're ever in the area again, and call me too."
"I will, Lili, I promise." Leo said, really wanting to mean it, but also unsure if he could. "Goodbye." And with that he left.
Three years ago, he was Wes, the Hero of Orre, before that he was Yuta of Team Snagem, and before that, he was Tatsuki, a punk from Pyrite Town. Now he was Leo the Wanderer, and now he departed the Orre region, it was time for someone else to be the hero. That was fine by him, he never asked for the job in the first place, and besides, he still had one last score to settle before Leo the Wanderer could become someone new once again.
Author's Note
What we have here is a little piece I wrote to do some basic exploring into a setting I'm calling the "Bonded-Verse" for the moment. I'm not in a position to really start working on the larger, main story I want to do because I want to finish or at least get farther into Shaking Earth before I start on it. But yeah I'm aware this one-shot doesn't super clearly explain how things work, it's not really supposed to. There's also a higher-than-Zero chance I go back or ahead and write more of what happened in this world's versions of Colosseum or Gale of Darkness.
Anyhow, tell me what you think in the reviews and once again this is Eon, signing off.