Pokémon: Leah's Journey {Rewrite}

Chapter 14: Trial and Error... In a Cave

Leah was quietly packing her camping gear when she heard the sound of rollerskates gliding on a dirt road. She barely looked up from her work when she greeted the person, "Good morning, Korrina."

Omen simply lifted his head, careful to not jostle Mrs. Cuddletails and Skalli's sleeping forms. He nodded Korrina's way, seeing that his trainer perceived the girl as someone that isn't a threat to them. In turn, Korrina's gaze lingered on the trio of Pokémon and noticed the sleeping Growlithe, "So you finally caved to your Grandpa's whims and got a Growlithe?"

Leah's body stilled, Actias Luna flapped her wings once in a show of concern while Primadonna kept working. Leah shook off her shock and turned to her friend, "No. Skalli was made in a lab and I didn't like that she had to live in such conditions."

"Ah so it's a moral dilemma."

"Are you just going to stand there and point out how I did the very thing I swore I wouldn't do?" Leah deadpanned.

"It's funny, you were pretty adamant on it too, but I think you did the right thing for Skalli." Korrina then added, "You have an Absol now."

Leah blinked, "Impressive observation, Korrina, but if this is about if I intend on using Mega Evolution with him, my answer is maybe."

Korrina nodded, "Of course, you want him to agree to it too. You can only draw out your Pokemon's full power if both your hearts are one."

Leah hummed in response and finished packing her camping gear. Vespidae and Spectre had already left for Shalour City and her friends were investigating the rocks. It was odd that Team Flare had taken an interest in them. Other than making keystones react weirdly, those rocks weren't very interesting. Korrina broke the silence, "So where are your friends?"

"They're investigating the rocks here and exploring the area. We had a run in with a shady group called Team Flare and they were collecting samples of the rocks."

"Leah, you noticed that your keystone reacts to the rocks here, didn't you?" Leah nodded, Korrina took that as her cue to keep going, "Those rocks aren't regular rocks, they're the graves of Pokemon that died in the Kalos war three thousand years ago."

"So the keystones are reacting because those graves are radiating energy." Realization hit Leah like a charging Tauros, "...shit. I let one of the grunts collect samples of the rocks."

"There's not much you can do now unless you want to forcibly take the samples from them."

"No thank you, contrary to popular belief, I don't have a death wish."

Korrina laughed, "The question is why did you let that grunt collect samples?"

Leah sighed, "Pity? I saw something in her, I still see it whenever I encounter her. My gut is telling me that she's different, that there's more that meets the eye."

Mildred and Zayn returned to the campsite before Korrina could answer. Zayn smiled Korrina's way and sat by Leah while Mildred opted to tend to the Pokemon. Mrs. Cuddletails and Skalli were very well awake and play-fighting by now, but the moment Lady Lemeow tried to join them, Skalli made haste to hide behind Leah. With a laugh, Korrina spoke up, "I heard that there was a Lucarionite in Geosenge Town, I wanted to go get it for my Lucario."

Leah scoffed, "What are you gonna do with it? You can only mega evolve one Pokemon per battle."

"Wouldn't it be fair if both of them had one?"

"Korrina, one of your Lucarios prefers performing over battles, if he's the one that doesn't have a Lucarionite, I genuinely think that he doesn't care." Leah stated and then quickly added, "I'll still help you get it, don't get me wrong, but please consider what Lucario might want."