Story Notes:
I wrote this for FanFiction, but feel compelled to put it here for you! I'm told this is a good story, and I like to get reviews... can you guess where I'm going with this? Read and leave your comments! If you really want to read more about Leo and Terra and their crazy adventures, then go to fanfics! If your a little patient, then all the chapters will be here eventually.
Strumming Harsh Chords
Leo
We started early, heading north out of Shield town. We were out early enough that the rain had yet to begin to fall. We knew it was just a matter of time though. As we marched on I started to get curious about the Planes. Raina had explained very little beyond their very existence.
"Raina, how is it we traverse the Planes?" I spoke telepathically to keep our conversation private. Her ears raised, but other than that she gave no indication she had heard me.
"Our spirits are bound to the Plane that matches our element." She explained, "In a sense, we are always there, but not always truly there. Do you understand?" I shook my head and sighed.
"Not even a little. I understand our spirit is basically born on the Plane that houses our element, but why is it that some pokemon never realize that they are connected to this separate world? On top of that, how can Earth be a Plane, wouldn't we be able to see the spirits? Furthermore, how can I be able to traverse all the Planes, yet my dominant element is electricity?" Everyone stared as Raina randomly threw her hands in the air and growled in frustration. She took a quick look around and covered herself.
"I can feel the rain coming already." Everyone sighed their agreement and Raina continued mentally. "You have more questions than a newborn cub, I swear to Arceus. I'm not a miracle worker, I'll tackle them one at a time. First, why some pokemon never realize they are connected to a Plane. The main reason is that they are not psychic pokemon. Psychic-types can naturally feel the invisible chord that connects them to their Plane. Other types need to know it exists before they can feel any kind of connection, and even then it isn't strong enough to travel to the Plane. With me so far?"
I nodded. "Then why am I not able to feel a connection to any Plane right now?"
"It is because you can enter all the Planes. You don't have a specific bond with a single one. Next question." She said this with finality, cutting off another of my questions. "Okay, how Earth can be a Plane. Think about it. The spirit of a person follows there actions. We can't see a person's spirit because it is moving with them because it is them. That is why psychic pokemon have such control over those of this Plane, they can directly control their spirits easily. It is also the reason humans can have an out of body experience. If you focus and separate your spirit from your body, you would more clearly see the spirits of others. In that way, Earth is still a Plane." I nodded, satisfied with the answer.
"And my last question? How can I enter all the Planes when my dominant element is electricity?" I saw it as a legitimate question, but Raina just sighed again.
"You really can't figure it out?" I shook my head. "Your going to slap yourself when you hear this. It is because you can change shape." I slapped my self across the face. Everyone stared at me, but I ignored them. It was so obvious! I would have slapped myself again, but Terra slowed to walk beside me.
"Are you alright?" She asked, concern in her voice. I smiled down at her.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about our next gym, it's starting to bother me a little." She turned away to dig in her backpack. I looked at Raina. When she saw me, I nodded my thanks. I looked back at Terra and found her punching buttons on her pokedex.
"The next gym is in... Solid City. Notable features: buildings made of solid steel, and it surrounds an iron works. It is often the location for searches of steel-types. They are almost as common as on Iron Island. Interesting." She pushed some more buttons. "The Gym Leader is named Waseem. That's all it says. It's safe to assume he's a steel-type trainer though, so Ember will mop the floor with him!" Terra threw fist in the air. I took the opportunity to reach to her side and tickle her. She shrieked and tried to wiggle away, I smiled and pulled her close. I rested my chin on her head and inhaled deeply, absorbing the fresh scent still lingering from her shower this morning. I sighed contentedly, and almost relaxed.
"Interesting, so you two have formed a relationship, then?" I let go of Terra, turned and saw Monique, and cocked my fist back in one clean motion. Monique was scribbling on his clipboard.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't send you flying." Monique straightened his Sublime T-shirt, and brushed off his faded jeans. Then he spun around, pulled his guitar out of nowhere, strummed a chord, and took a pose, all in one clean motion. Bastard.
He grinned. "Cause I look so good." I growled and let my fist go. It hit him square in the jaw. He was airborne for several seconds before landing maybe ten feet down the path.
"Don't ever top my spinning and multi-action combo!" In response he just stood up, brushed himself off again, and scribbled something on that overcrowded clipboard. "Arceus, I really hate him." I complained as we started walking again. Terra rubbed my arm soothingly. I sighed and draped it across her shoulders.
"You really just need to relax." She said, "You're living with too much pressure. If you don't let some go, you're going to collapse." As I watched Monique stalking Aditi with a needle, I had to disagree.
"That's easy enough for you to say, you're not constantly under threat of experimentation." I chuckled lightly as Scar kicked Monique in the back. "He's really more of a menace than anything."
Terra sighed, "I still say you're just tense. And this constant rain isn't making things any better." I looked up and thought for a moment.
"Hey, everybody!" Everyone stopped walking to turn to me. "This rain is getting really heavy, and we're not going to reach the next city today. Let's make camp and hope it's clearer tomorrow." Everyone nodded their agreement and moved off the road. Under the trees we had more protection, but it wasn't until we had found our way under a wayward pine that everyone was able to relax and set up camp. In minutes we had a small fire and food cooking. I was relaxing against the trunk of the tree when Monique walked up to me. I ignored him, but he sat next to me anyway.
"So, why do you and Terra get along so well?" The question caught me off guard. I was well prepared to deflect any probes about testing, or my genetic code, but he was asking about my relationship?
"Why? What's it to you?" He shrugged.
"I have my reasons. How do you two get along so well?" I thought about it for a moment.
"I guess it's just that we're very alike. And she saved me from dying, that's definitely a plus." Monique nodded and pulled his guitar in front of him. I was flustered for a moment because I didn't see where it came from. This man is just full of surprises. He began to play an intricate set of notes, plucking different strings, and pressing different frets. It was too quick to follow.
"Hey," I asked, "Do you think you could teach me how to play?" When he looked up, he kept playing. He simply nodded and slowed the rhythm down to something I could follow. His left hand, on the neck of the guitar, moved up a single fret and up a string with each movement, while his right hand, on the strings, plucked on each new fret.
"These are called scales," He explained, "They are the corner stone of everything you would ever play on the guitar." He stopped playing and passed the guitar to me. "Here, left hand on the neck, right hand on the strings. This is the light E string. Now, put your left index finger on the sixth fret, the spaces between the metal bars. Simply pluck the E string. Now move up a fret and a string. There, you're playing scales." He showed me everything, how to position my hands, how to pluck the string, he even showed me a simple way to switch strings by using different fingers. Through it I caught myself smiling. I looked up at Terra and found her smiling as well. I did my best to tell her to not say 'I told you so.'
"You know Monique," I said, turning back to the guitarist, "You're not as bad as I thought." He grinned.
"I'm not a two-dimensional person. What you see is not what you get. Now, if I could get a blood sample?" I jokingly shoved him away.
"Get the hell away from me!" We both shared a laugh, and he continued to teach me more about the guitar.
I learned a lot that night. How to tighten the strings, how to do complex chords, how to string them together, simple songs, and by the end of it all, I was sitting there playing a lullaby I had made myself. By now everyone else was asleep, but I was too thrilled by discovery to sleep. I quietly put Monique's guitar back in its case and crept out into the night. It wasn't raining, but the ground was covered in a heavy fog.
I walked slowly, careful not trip over any invisible obstacles. I kept walking until I found a tall oak. It was surrounded by pine trees, but towered above them, at least sixty feet in the air. I looked up into its shadowy world. The first branch was ten feet above my head. I backed away from the trunk and crouched. With a burst I ran at the tree. I jumped and planted my foot against the trunk. Pushing off, I grabbed hold of the branch. I swung my legs and vaulted off, landing on my feet on the next branch up. Without pause, I lunged to the next, catching it with my hands. I continued up until I was near the top. I was five feet from the peak, but all possible branches got too weak to hold me at that point.
From there I could see well across the forest. The wind picked up and the surrounding pines swayed in unison. Waves of green washed in the white light of the moon. It was mesmerizing. It held my attention so well I didn't notice the figure standing on a branch on the other side of the tree trunk. I jumped when his deep voice broke the night's calm.
"It's peaceful, isn't it?" It was non-threatening. I pride myself in being able to read voices, but I didn't drop my guard. Too many voices are just as gentle when their driving a knife between your ribs.
"It is." I said simply. I couldn't see the man's face, it was shrouded in shadow from where I was sitting. "Who are you?" I heard him chuckle.
"Right to the point, eh? Well sorry to disappoint, but I don't just give out my name." I nodded at the sense of it.
"Then may I know why your here?" The man chuckle again.
"Oh, you'll find out soon enough." He pointed straight up, and, being the fool I am, my eyes followed his hand to see the bright, crescent moon. I looked at it for only a moment, but when I brought my head back down the figure was gone. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing he wasn't a threat, but I was still curious.
I stayed on the tree for a little while longer, enjoying the scenery. Just when I was about to turn in, I was hit with a powerful gust of air. It knocked me of balance, but I was able to recover.
"Aww, I thought he would fall!" I recognized the overly happy child's voice all too quickly.
"Nera Giagro." I growled the name between gritted teeth. The winged girl floated from behind the nearest pine. "Where's your cousin? Don't you two usually travel together?" Nera giggled.
"Oh, he's here." She giggled again. I was about to leap out when the tree started to shake. I was mid-leap when it caught me off guard. This time there was no recovery. I saw a limb in front of me and threw my arms out. It wasn't enough.
My stomach was turning as I fell. I kept my arms extended, and I was jerked into a hasty swing as they caught a branch twenty feet from the bottom. I swung around it once before launching myself into the air like a gymnast. As I flew I caught a glimpse of Troy staring up at me, but my real objective was floating feet above me. I pointed one fist and fired a thunderbolt. My shot went wide of Nera, and hit a tree nearby. The top was cut clean off and began to fall. Nera was smart enough to get out of the way, but Troy, who was running to get beneath me, stopped to stare. When I landed form my flip I was in front of him. He was still staring at the tree, so I took the opportunity. I grabbed both his shoulders, stuck my foot in his groin, and dropped to the ground. Gravity pulled the big morph above me. I used the momentum to carry him through and kicked him behind me. The throw placed him beneath the falling treetop.
It fell with the loud sounds of snapping and popping branches. Nera was stunned by the feat, and I used the extra time to hit her with a thunderbolt. While both were distracted, I ran. I knew better than to run back to camp, they would most likely follow me. Instead I ran a seemingly random path through the trees. In my mind I had a mental map. I was slowly zig-zagging towards camp. When I felt I was maybe a hundred feet away I started circling around. I spiraled out from where I felt the camp was, increasing the size of my circle incrementally. After maybe fifteen minutes, when I was secure that I had made a sufficiently large perimeter, I stopped. I was hardly out of breath from the running.
I quickly located the tallest tree in the area. I quickly scaled it and got my bearings. In the distance I could see Nera's glittering wings. I was happy to see them fluttering around without direction. Contented I dropped to the forest floor and ran another zig-zag towards camp. When I reached our camps wayward pine I climbed it, being silent so as not to wake the others. At the top I scanned the horizon. I could still see Nera, but she was much farther than before. Happy with the confusion I had caused I slowly lowered myself back to camp. With a heavy sigh from a busy night I collapsed next to Terra. She stirred slightly, but didn't wake up. I wrapped a protective arm around her and lay there. I didn't sleep. I kept my ears open for the sounds of approaching feet, wings, anything.Chapter End Notes:And there it is. I haven't much to say, except that the html tags were a bitch on this one. Thanks for reading, please review
We started early, heading north out of Shield town. We were out early enough that the rain had yet to begin to fall. We knew it was just a matter of time though. As we marched on I started to get curious about the Planes. Raina had explained very little beyond their very existence.
"Raina, how is it we traverse the Planes?" I spoke telepathically to keep our conversation private. Her ears raised, but other than that she gave no indication she had heard me.
"Our spirits are bound to the Plane that matches our element." She explained, "In a sense, we are always there, but not always truly there. Do you understand?" I shook my head and sighed.
"Not even a little. I understand our spirit is basically born on the Plane that houses our element, but why is it that some pokemon never realize that they are connected to this separate world? On top of that, how can Earth be a Plane, wouldn't we be able to see the spirits? Furthermore, how can I be able to traverse all the Planes, yet my dominant element is electricity?" Everyone stared as Raina randomly threw her hands in the air and growled in frustration. She took a quick look around and covered herself.
"I can feel the rain coming already." Everyone sighed their agreement and Raina continued mentally. "You have more questions than a newborn cub, I swear to Arceus. I'm not a miracle worker, I'll tackle them one at a time. First, why some pokemon never realize they are connected to a Plane. The main reason is that they are not psychic pokemon. Psychic-types can naturally feel the invisible chord that connects them to their Plane. Other types need to know it exists before they can feel any kind of connection, and even then it isn't strong enough to travel to the Plane. With me so far?"
I nodded. "Then why am I not able to feel a connection to any Plane right now?"
"It is because you can enter all the Planes. You don't have a specific bond with a single one. Next question." She said this with finality, cutting off another of my questions. "Okay, how Earth can be a Plane. Think about it. The spirit of a person follows there actions. We can't see a person's spirit because it is moving with them because it is them. That is why psychic pokemon have such control over those of this Plane, they can directly control their spirits easily. It is also the reason humans can have an out of body experience. If you focus and separate your spirit from your body, you would more clearly see the spirits of others. In that way, Earth is still a Plane." I nodded, satisfied with the answer.
"And my last question? How can I enter all the Planes when my dominant element is electricity?" I saw it as a legitimate question, but Raina just sighed again.
"You really can't figure it out?" I shook my head. "Your going to slap yourself when you hear this. It is because you can change shape." I slapped my self across the face. Everyone stared at me, but I ignored them. It was so obvious! I would have slapped myself again, but Terra slowed to walk beside me.
"Are you alright?" She asked, concern in her voice. I smiled down at her.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about our next gym, it's starting to bother me a little." She turned away to dig in her backpack. I looked at Raina. When she saw me, I nodded my thanks. I looked back at Terra and found her punching buttons on her pokedex.
"The next gym is in... Solid City. Notable features: buildings made of solid steel, and it surrounds an iron works. It is often the location for searches of steel-types. They are almost as common as on Iron Island. Interesting." She pushed some more buttons. "The Gym Leader is named Waseem. That's all it says. It's safe to assume he's a steel-type trainer though, so Ember will mop the floor with him!" Terra threw fist in the air. I took the opportunity to reach to her side and tickle her. She shrieked and tried to wiggle away, I smiled and pulled her close. I rested my chin on her head and inhaled deeply, absorbing the fresh scent still lingering from her shower this morning. I sighed contentedly, and almost relaxed.
"Interesting, so you two have formed a relationship, then?" I let go of Terra, turned and saw Monique, and cocked my fist back in one clean motion. Monique was scribbling on his clipboard.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't send you flying." Monique straightened his Sublime T-shirt, and brushed off his faded jeans. Then he spun around, pulled his guitar out of nowhere, strummed a chord, and took a pose, all in one clean motion. Bastard.
He grinned. "Cause I look so good." I growled and let my fist go. It hit him square in the jaw. He was airborne for several seconds before landing maybe ten feet down the path.
"Don't ever top my spinning and multi-action combo!" In response he just stood up, brushed himself off again, and scribbled something on that overcrowded clipboard. "Arceus, I really hate him." I complained as we started walking again. Terra rubbed my arm soothingly. I sighed and draped it across her shoulders.
"You really just need to relax." She said, "You're living with too much pressure. If you don't let some go, you're going to collapse." As I watched Monique stalking Aditi with a needle, I had to disagree.
"That's easy enough for you to say, you're not constantly under threat of experimentation." I chuckled lightly as Scar kicked Monique in the back. "He's really more of a menace than anything."
Terra sighed, "I still say you're just tense. And this constant rain isn't making things any better." I looked up and thought for a moment.
"Hey, everybody!" Everyone stopped walking to turn to me. "This rain is getting really heavy, and we're not going to reach the next city today. Let's make camp and hope it's clearer tomorrow." Everyone nodded their agreement and moved off the road. Under the trees we had more protection, but it wasn't until we had found our way under a wayward pine that everyone was able to relax and set up camp. In minutes we had a small fire and food cooking. I was relaxing against the trunk of the tree when Monique walked up to me. I ignored him, but he sat next to me anyway.
"So, why do you and Terra get along so well?" The question caught me off guard. I was well prepared to deflect any probes about testing, or my genetic code, but he was asking about my relationship?
"Why? What's it to you?" He shrugged.
"I have my reasons. How do you two get along so well?" I thought about it for a moment.
"I guess it's just that we're very alike. And she saved me from dying, that's definitely a plus." Monique nodded and pulled his guitar in front of him. I was flustered for a moment because I didn't see where it came from. This man is just full of surprises. He began to play an intricate set of notes, plucking different strings, and pressing different frets. It was too quick to follow.
"Hey," I asked, "Do you think you could teach me how to play?" When he looked up, he kept playing. He simply nodded and slowed the rhythm down to something I could follow. His left hand, on the neck of the guitar, moved up a single fret and up a string with each movement, while his right hand, on the strings, plucked on each new fret.
"These are called scales," He explained, "They are the corner stone of everything you would ever play on the guitar." He stopped playing and passed the guitar to me. "Here, left hand on the neck, right hand on the strings. This is the light E string. Now, put your left index finger on the sixth fret, the spaces between the metal bars. Simply pluck the E string. Now move up a fret and a string. There, you're playing scales." He showed me everything, how to position my hands, how to pluck the string, he even showed me a simple way to switch strings by using different fingers. Through it I caught myself smiling. I looked up at Terra and found her smiling as well. I did my best to tell her to not say 'I told you so.'
"You know Monique," I said, turning back to the guitarist, "You're not as bad as I thought." He grinned.
"I'm not a two-dimensional person. What you see is not what you get. Now, if I could get a blood sample?" I jokingly shoved him away.
"Get the hell away from me!" We both shared a laugh, and he continued to teach me more about the guitar.
I learned a lot that night. How to tighten the strings, how to do complex chords, how to string them together, simple songs, and by the end of it all, I was sitting there playing a lullaby I had made myself. By now everyone else was asleep, but I was too thrilled by discovery to sleep. I quietly put Monique's guitar back in its case and crept out into the night. It wasn't raining, but the ground was covered in a heavy fog.
I walked slowly, careful not trip over any invisible obstacles. I kept walking until I found a tall oak. It was surrounded by pine trees, but towered above them, at least sixty feet in the air. I looked up into its shadowy world. The first branch was ten feet above my head. I backed away from the trunk and crouched. With a burst I ran at the tree. I jumped and planted my foot against the trunk. Pushing off, I grabbed hold of the branch. I swung my legs and vaulted off, landing on my feet on the next branch up. Without pause, I lunged to the next, catching it with my hands. I continued up until I was near the top. I was five feet from the peak, but all possible branches got too weak to hold me at that point.
From there I could see well across the forest. The wind picked up and the surrounding pines swayed in unison. Waves of green washed in the white light of the moon. It was mesmerizing. It held my attention so well I didn't notice the figure standing on a branch on the other side of the tree trunk. I jumped when his deep voice broke the night's calm.
"It's peaceful, isn't it?" It was non-threatening. I pride myself in being able to read voices, but I didn't drop my guard. Too many voices are just as gentle when their driving a knife between your ribs.
"It is." I said simply. I couldn't see the man's face, it was shrouded in shadow from where I was sitting. "Who are you?" I heard him chuckle.
"Right to the point, eh? Well sorry to disappoint, but I don't just give out my name." I nodded at the sense of it.
"Then may I know why your here?" The man chuckle again.
"Oh, you'll find out soon enough." He pointed straight up, and, being the fool I am, my eyes followed his hand to see the bright, crescent moon. I looked at it for only a moment, but when I brought my head back down the figure was gone. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing he wasn't a threat, but I was still curious.
I stayed on the tree for a little while longer, enjoying the scenery. Just when I was about to turn in, I was hit with a powerful gust of air. It knocked me of balance, but I was able to recover.
"Aww, I thought he would fall!" I recognized the overly happy child's voice all too quickly.
"Nera Giagro." I growled the name between gritted teeth. The winged girl floated from behind the nearest pine. "Where's your cousin? Don't you two usually travel together?" Nera giggled.
"Oh, he's here." She giggled again. I was about to leap out when the tree started to shake. I was mid-leap when it caught me off guard. This time there was no recovery. I saw a limb in front of me and threw my arms out. It wasn't enough.
My stomach was turning as I fell. I kept my arms extended, and I was jerked into a hasty swing as they caught a branch twenty feet from the bottom. I swung around it once before launching myself into the air like a gymnast. As I flew I caught a glimpse of Troy staring up at me, but my real objective was floating feet above me. I pointed one fist and fired a thunderbolt. My shot went wide of Nera, and hit a tree nearby. The top was cut clean off and began to fall. Nera was smart enough to get out of the way, but Troy, who was running to get beneath me, stopped to stare. When I landed form my flip I was in front of him. He was still staring at the tree, so I took the opportunity. I grabbed both his shoulders, stuck my foot in his groin, and dropped to the ground. Gravity pulled the big morph above me. I used the momentum to carry him through and kicked him behind me. The throw placed him beneath the falling treetop.
It fell with the loud sounds of snapping and popping branches. Nera was stunned by the feat, and I used the extra time to hit her with a thunderbolt. While both were distracted, I ran. I knew better than to run back to camp, they would most likely follow me. Instead I ran a seemingly random path through the trees. In my mind I had a mental map. I was slowly zig-zagging towards camp. When I felt I was maybe a hundred feet away I started circling around. I spiraled out from where I felt the camp was, increasing the size of my circle incrementally. After maybe fifteen minutes, when I was secure that I had made a sufficiently large perimeter, I stopped. I was hardly out of breath from the running.
I quickly located the tallest tree in the area. I quickly scaled it and got my bearings. In the distance I could see Nera's glittering wings. I was happy to see them fluttering around without direction. Contented I dropped to the forest floor and ran another zig-zag towards camp. When I reached our camps wayward pine I climbed it, being silent so as not to wake the others. At the top I scanned the horizon. I could still see Nera, but she was much farther than before. Happy with the confusion I had caused I slowly lowered myself back to camp. With a heavy sigh from a busy night I collapsed next to Terra. She stirred slightly, but didn't wake up. I wrapped a protective arm around her and lay there. I didn't sleep. I kept my ears open for the sounds of approaching feet, wings, anything.Chapter End Notes:And there it is. I haven't much to say, except that the html tags were a bitch on this one. Thanks for reading, please review