''Stand back''

Leon began to regard his surroundings with pair of concerned eyes. The silhouette figure before them had vanished as quickly as it had appeared. He watched as Vagus swept his limited vision over the surrounding area.

At times Leon would feel pangs of sympathy for the Totodile who tried hard to live normally in spite of his maimed eye. Vagus seemed determined to not let his disability overcome him. Leon began to wonder of the Totodile shared some form of feud with his injury, and that this was his way of dealing with it.

“Who’s there?” barked Vagus, exposing his teeth. Leon noted the way he handled the shovel in his hand. It seemed somewhat rehearsed and perfected; almost as though he had handled something like it before.

“Don’t stop, keep going!” nagged the voice again. It came from behind them. Guided by sound, rather than sight, Vagus span in its direction. He kept his free arm raised, ensuring that Leon was safe and behind him.

“Oh, you are a silly Totodile.” It was a female voice…a rather witty and condescending female voice. From the brush that encompassed the bases of the trees, a Celebi burst out from one of the bushes. A lone flower adorned her head.

“A C-Celebi?” Vagus recoiled. Leon felt his hand shove him back out of potential harm’s way. Raising the shovel, Vagus regarded the Celebi with an astonished expression.

“V-Vagus, relax,” assured Leon, coming to his side. Calmly, he gently forced Vagus to lower the arm in which he held the shovel. “It’s just the one that’s been hanging around town lately.” Leon locked eyes with the Celebi, he did not once take them off her.

“You, there,” she snapped, her eyes turning fierce as she looked at Leon. “So this is why you ran off and abandoned your team. To be with…him…” She turned to Vagus and regarded him with the same fierce look.

Leon suddenly felt his insides go cold. The veil of secrecy that his relationship with Vagus’ required had been torn down. “I-I c-can explain that,” he stuttered, letting go of Vagus’ arm and taking a generous step away from the Totodile. “W-we were just--”

“There’s nothing to explain. You should know better than to just run off with a seed as precious as that!”

A wave of surprise rolled through Leon’s body at the Celebi’s words. “W-what?” He turned to Vagus who looked just as equally stunned.

Arcing through the air in an impressive display of aeronautics, the Celebi came before Leon eyes. Like aqua blue gems, her eyes gazed deep into Leon. The Riolu felt his spine tingle with a sense of discomfort at the sight of them.

Before he could whisper to Vagus for help, the Celebi’s eyes drifted down to the seed cupped between his paws. To his surprise, she regarded it with a smile. “Ya can’t just go running off with a seed like this.” Her voice seemed to take on a nice charm. “I honestly don’t care what your reason is.”

“Y-you don’t mind?” A mixture of relief and happiness began to rise within Leon. With a warm smile working its way across his face once again, Leon turned to Vagus.

Rather than taking relief in the Celebi’s words, Vagus instead found the need to challenge them. “The heck you goin’ on about, Celebi?” scoffed Vagus. “It’s just some sickly old seed.”

“Jasmine,” corrected the Celebi, revealing her name. “And why have you stopped? C’mon, keep going! I’ve got to get back to the others!”

“S-so ya won’t tell…anyone?” cocked Vagus.

“Tell anyone what?”

“Tell them that we’re…erm…actually, never mind.” Doing his best to hide a delightful chuckle, Vagus turned his back and went back to work.

Jasmine immediately seemed to take more of an interest in him. Whizzing through the air, she was nearly flawless in her manoeuvres when she came down to the hole that Vagus’ was digging. Coming close to Vagus’ side, Leon watched Jasmine’s eyes follow the shovel’s movements. She seemed fixated in trying to find a potential flaw in Vagus’ movements.

“Stop!” she suddenly hissed, making both Leon and Vagus jerk in surprise. “That’s enough.” With a small hand she indicated for Vagus to move the shovel out of the way. Her eyes shot up to meet Leon’s gaze, forcing a familiar chill to roll down the Riolu’s spine once again. “Put the seed in. C’mon, I don’t have all day.”

With Vagus’ stepping to the side, Leon knelt before the hole and dropped the seed inside. He looked up at Vagus and motioned for him to fill it back in. The task was easily accomplished when Vagus used the shovel to simply sweep most of the dug up soil back into the hole.

Leon returned to his feet and joined Vagus in regarding Jasmine with a curious expression. The Celebi came to a hover and looked at them both with a smile. She seemed to be waiting for something.

Feeling uncertain on what it was, Vagus spoke up. “So…um…now what?”

This seemed to be the question Jasmine was waiting for, as she giggled with satisfaction and spoke in a skippy tone, “You stand back, of course.”

The two lovers exchanged curious glances with one another before taking a few steps back. Before Leon could ask if they had stepped back far enough, Jasmine had begun to glow. The air around them was quickly becoming thick with a certain essence that defied Leon’s comprehension.

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Written by Team Spartan/The Masked E6 Pt 9 ''Stand back.'' Leon began to regard his surroundings with pair of concerned eyes. The silhouette figure before them had vanished as quickly as it had appeared. He watched as Vagus swept his limited vision over the surrounding area.

At times Leon would feel pangs of sympathy for the Totodile who tried hard to live normally in spite of his maimed eye. Vagus seemed determined to not let his disability overcome him. Leon began to wonder of the Totodile shared some form of feud with his injury, and that this was his way of dealing with it.

"Who's there?" barked Vagus, exposing his teeth. Leon noted the way he handled the shovel in his hand. It seemed somewhat
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