We walked outside the Pokemon center, and Kukui waved for us to follow him as we headed even further away to a small park.

"This is a quiet place we can use." He offered as I looked around the sunny field. I noticed a sleeping Fomantis in the sun as well, so this was definitely a good spot.

"Alright! So first step… We need to meet Leafeon, and try to get it to help us." I said and Kukui nodded. Mama I noticed stepped away to sit on the benches in the park just watching while Kukui and I both nodded.

"Come on out! Leafeon!" He called out, and the grass type appeared in the field, instantly its brown eyes glared at me, and I stared right back.

"Listen… I know this isn't what you wanted."

"Leaf! Leafeon!" It demanded smacking its front leg into the grass once twice, then over and over…

Cute.

"If you had just listened to me! I just want to talk. Do you want to go back to the jungle? I can release you after, if you want."

"Leaf! Leaf." It scoffed and turned its back on me…

"Are you hungry? Want a berry?" I offered, my usual go to was completely ignored and the Leafeon just kept turning its head away from my hovering berry…

"Hahhaha! Well, it's a stubborn one isn't it? How about this, do you want to get stronger? Some fun battles? I'm Kukui, and I know Vicky can teach you lots of strong moves."

"Leaf." It snarked, still ignoring.

"Hey, C'mo-Whoa!" I jolted as Leafeon suddenly darted forward, rushing for the Jungle!

"Return!" Kukui called out and the Leafeon didn't make it even half way to the trees before coming back into the pokeball…

That!

"Did it just try to run!?" I gasped and Kukui sighed but also he was chuckling a bit.

"That happens sometimes. It's rare though. This one definitely doesn't want to stick around."

"Grrr! If it wants to be released it just needs to answer one question! Release it again."

"Yeah." Leafeon popped out and back onto the field and it instantly puffed up in irritation.

"Hey! Just listen! Show me where you evolved. The place you went from being an Eevee and evolved into a Leafeon! If you do that I'll release you. I'll break that pokeball into little bits." I offered and Leafeon looked at me. Then turned its back on me…

That little shit wasn't cute at all! Even if its little leaf cowlick was super adorable, and I just wanted to pet it!

Asshole!

I slumped, and Kukui, hummed as he squatted down looking over the pokemon that was still ignoring me.

"Seems like a tough one. Not interested in battling, or getting released." He mentioned and Leafeon just huffed and turned away again.

"I've never seen an Eevee this stubborn before." I mentioned, and Kukui chuckled.

"I have. They can be little terrors if they want to be, trust me." He smiled as if thinking of an old memory before shaking it off. "Maybe another pokemon could explain it better?"

"Oh good idea." I hit a pokeball, and Riolu popped out.

"Rio?" She asked, looking around and then saw Kukui and she smiled at him.

Why smile at him!? You little brat!

"Riolu, can you explain to Leafeon, that we'll let them go if they just answer our question. Or they can stay if they want. Lots of people would be happy to have a Leafeon."

"Rio." She offered and walked over standing in front of Leafeon who proceeded to turn its head to look away. "Riolu. Lullu Riolu. Riolu? Riolu rio." Riolu chattered away and then… "Riolu." She repeated as Leafeon continued to look away from her.

Riolu leaned in to get into Leafeon's line of sight and Leafeon shifted, twisting its head to continue to look away and ignore Riolu…

"Riolu!" She barked looking about ready to start punching Leafeon so I moved in and quickly pulled her away before she did battle.

"Riolu relax, calm down." I called out as I held her back.

Huh. She didn't like being ignored. Good to know.

"Hmm. Maybe Lucario would be better?" Kukui offered, and I just shrugged. But as Kukui released his pokemon, and it spoke to Leafeon it continued to ignore everyone.

What a little shit! Okay I just needed something to tempt…

"I have an idea. Can you watch it?"

"Sure." I ran off, Riolu chasing after me as we headed back into the main street and then across the way to a Malasada vendor.

Even if Leafeon didn't need to eat, I bet it still had a favorite flavor!

"Alola! What can I get you!"

"One of every flavor!" I demanded slapping some Pokedollars onto the table.

"Rio!"

"And one extra Spicey one." I added and Riolu barked happily.

Heh.

Once the order was done I made Riolu help carry some while making sure I held the spicy ones. I'd give her one after we got back.

Kukui saw what I'd done and instantly understood. Holding back a smile as he nodded and I approached.

Leafeon was still sitting in the same spot, seemingly just enjoying the sunlight and ignoring everything else.

"Okay!" I called out as I spread out the Malasada in a half circle, the last one I swapped with Riolu to give her the spicy one. "Yummy treats. Look Leafeon, yummy yummy stuff. Don't you want one?" I tempted, and then Leafeon opened one brown eye, looked at the food arrayed in front of it, and then just huffed and swiped. Sending all of the Malasada scattering across the grass…

"Ugh." I groaned and flopped back on my butt. I had no answer here. Leafeon was a difficult pokemon, because it didn't really need to eat. Just sit in the sun and be lazy and if it was angry at being captured there wasn't much I could do to force the issue.

"Ri rio!" Riolu barked angrily as she walked over and picked up the Malasada…

"Riolu." I groaned as she started chowing down on the spilled spicy Malasada, and was gathering up the others to eat as well. "Share those."

"Rio!" She denied clutching them to her chest, which was going to make a mess.

Ugh!

"You got any ideas?" I asked Kukui who just hummed.

"Time." He decided and I slumped.

"I don't want to spend time. Just tell us where you evolved!" I groaned, but Leafeon simply responded with a happy little huff noise, as it delighted in my suffering and then continued to ignore me.

"Alright, my turn." Mama said suddenly, and I blinked as she walked right up, and before Kukui or I could act she reached down and picked up Leafeon by the scruff of its neck, Leafeon yelped and squirmed but Mama brought it right up to her face and glared right into its face in a way it couldn't ignore "Listen here you overgrown cabbage. This stubborn act is getting old. Get with the program."

Her demand was met with dropped jaws from all of us. Riolu even dropped her Malasada out of her mouth as Mama hissed out right in Leafeon's face.

And then to my astonishment, Leafeon closed its eyes before opening them into the cutest Baby Doll Eyes I'd ever seen.

Which was instantly ignored as Mama shook the Leafeon!

"Don't try that with me. I've raised that troublemaker. There is nothing you have that'll affect me."

"Leaf!"

"Don't care." Mama ignored its plaintive cry and continued to glare, and finally Leafeon sort of shifted to a continued pleading look. "You have two options, you brat. Either work with us, and we'll give you what you want in the end, or keep fighting us, and you'll keep getting something you don't want. So stop being a brat and wasting both of our time!"

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Le! Leaf!"

"Is that a yes?" Mama hissed, and Leafeon shivered for a moment.

"Leaf! Leafeon! Le!"

"Good." Mama bent down and put the pokemon back on its legs and then nodded. Arms crossed as she looked down at it.

"Whoa."

"Yeah."

"Rio."

"Well Vicky, talk to your pokemon." Mama demanded still looking down her nose.

"R-right… My pokemon… Sure." I cleared my throat for a moment. "Leafeon. I just really need to know where you evolved. If you help me with that. I'll do whatever you want. Release you, train you to be super strong. Or even let you be a lazy pokemon that lives in doors and gets all the sun you ever want. Just take me to where you evolved."

It looked at me, with those big brown eyes, before glancing at Mama and quickly deciding against whatever it was about to do before nodding.

"Leaf. Leafon."

That was an agreement if I've ever seen one!

"Good. Then Mama bent down and picked up the grass type as it went a bit stiff as it looked up at Mama fearfully, but instead Mama ran a hand along its head. "Good girl. I'll hold you as you guide us… Don't want you thinking you can run off into the Jungle, right?" Mama said, with a tilted sinister smile that had Leafeon stiffen up again despite just about relaxing before shaking its head.

"Leaf! Leafeon leaf!" It offered, giving Mama another dose of Baby Doll Eyes, to look extra innocent.

"Good."

Then all I could do was slump to the ground until my forehead hit the earth… "I'm a failure as a trainer." I moaned into the earth. Mama had just completely defeated me!

"Oh get up. You're just not the type to deal with obstinate pokemon. Unlike you, I actually had to scrabble in the dirt to capture my pokemon… Heh I still have some old scratch marks from Meows, when I first caught that alley cat. Brats like this are my type of pokemon. They tend to have more fight in them, so I looked for that sort. You just have to learn how to deal with them."

"Honestly. I'm impressed." Kukui said, giving Mama an honest respectful nod. "I wouldn't have considered going with that angle either."

"Ah well." She waved off. Mama was a little flattered.

"Okay! Fine! Enough playing around!" I decided, pointing to the sky then right down at Leafeon. "Point in the direction of where you were when you evolved!"

It looked at me for a bit before huffing and pointing back towards the Jungle.

Alright.

—--

We took some ride Tauros back up the road out of town. And all three of us with pokemon moved north. It didn't take long before we found the same place that we had found Leafeon, and it pointed off the road from there.

Makes sense. It probably knew the forest better from within it, than from the road.

"Guess we gotta Rollout from here." Kukui said, and Mama sent him a look like she was embarrassed for him.

Heh.

"Yep!" I confirmed and once more we left the Tauros to cross the field, and passed by Leafeon's rock which it looked at with more Baby Doll Eyes.

Aww. It liked its rock…

No wait, it was a brat!

We continued moving deeper into the Jungle, Leafeon would point only when Mama prompted her, and soon we were heading quite deep. North deeper and deeper.

A few pokemon poked their heads out to see what was going on, but Kukui had his Lucario out and just a glance from Luey sent the pokemon to quickly ignoring us. Then we finally came to a part of the Jungle, it was actually almost dark, the trees were so close together, the foliage was so dense. It had a muffled quietness to it, despite all the chirps and noises of Pokemon in the Jungle around us, it all just sounded far away.

And then Leafeon called out.

"Leaf. Leafeon." It called out and Luey glanced up and pointed down and Leafeon nodded.

"It was here." Kukui translated and I nodded. I looked around but…

There was nothing here? It was just a clearing in the Jungle.

"Are you sure?" I asked, because I didn't see any big mossy rocks.

"Leaf!" It growled and wiggled a bit. Mama put her down and she moved over and swiped at some leaves on the ground and…

"Okay you are." I apologized, that was signs of a pokemon battle. Kukui pulled out some sort of tablet of all things and started pushing some buttons before he spoke.

"I've got the exact coordinates." Ah, it was a GPS of some sort.

"Alright let's… Just look-No wait. Sorry." I apologized and moved over to Leafeon. "You did what I asked. Thank you. Sorry for the surprise battle, and the capture. If you want to leave, I'll break your Pokeball. You're free to go."

I looked at Kukui, who had a boyish grin on his face as he looked me over.

"You know, it's a rare person that would let such a rare pokemon just disappear into the jungle. I was entrusted with this by the Kahuna, but eh, it seems I lost it." He shrugged and tossed Leafeon's Pokeball over to me.

"Thanks Professor." I said and he just kept grinning.

Mama I noticed, looked at the professor and then smirked. Giving him a little nod.

Yep. Kukui was awesome like that.

Leafeon made a little chirping noise as I popped open the Pokeball, and then smashed it apart. Startling the Pokemon. Her ears shot up and twitched a bit in surprise.

"Alright, you're free to go." I decided, putting the broken pokeball in my pack. It'd get recycled at a Pokemart.

"Alright Cabbage. Thanks for the help." Mama said, and I couldn't help but snort at the name.

Leafeon sort of stepped backwards, shifting the grass as she moved testing. She moved a few steps looking around as if expecting a trick, but I moved away, okay. Where was the Moss Rock? It had to be here somewhere. I moved away, starting a circular pattern from where we had dropped off Leafeon.

It had to be around here somewhere. You can't just hide a big Rock…

Well you totally could. It was a dang rock. It could be under ground or grown into a tree for all I know. Game stuff didn't always translate over well.

"You know, a lot of researchers are going to want to complain to you for releasing such a rare pokemon." Kukui, mentioned having followed after me, as Mama seemed happy to settle into her spot finding a tree and a comfy bit of grass to take a break in.

"They can complain all they want. If they want to research a Leafeon, find one themselves." I muttered as I pushed plants and shrubs away to check, only to find loamy ground.

Not a big rock here.

Keep moving.

Moss. Moss. It had to be somewhere!

"Heh. Know what you're looking for?" He asked, and I didn't quite shake my head but kept looking.

"I'll know it when I find it."

"Reassuring. I hope you're right. Kahuna Olivia is going to be angry with me, if you aren't."

I stopped searching and turned to the man. "Thanks Kukui, really. I appreciate you letting me do that."

"Hey, it's fine. Not the first time I've been yelled at by the Kahuna." He said with a shrug and then he was grinning. "But let's find whatever we're looking for before we have to head back so I have something to distract them."

"Heh. Yeah." I stepped around some bushes, careful not to disturb a Weedle I noticed glaring at me from beneath a shrub, and then stepped further into the Jungle. Each step had to be careful, as twisted roots, and soft ground made a trap asking to grab your ankle. But I kept going, circling around.

It might take a while, but it had to be here, had to be close. I just needed…

It was pure luck. I glanced to my left, as I explored through and saw it right in between a few trees. Rays of sunlight, filtering through the canopy, landing right onto a large boulder. It was absolutely covered at the top by a thicket carpet of moss. It looked like a cupcake covered in frosting, it was so thick.

The Moss must be enjoying those few streams of sunlight, and the moisture in the air. It was a Jungle after all.

"Vicky?"

I shifted and headed through, breaking into another small clearing, I could practically feel it. The grass crawled up to the rock as if growing from it, and yet, there were no trees close to it. It had an area around it in the middle of the Jungle that was just… Perfect.

"This is it." I said firmly, but I had to be sure.

There wasn't a lot of lore about Moss Rocks, or Ice Rocks, nothing really about how they worked exactly, but in Legends Arceus, there was a single bit of information that I'd always remembered, because of how cool it was.

Just touching the rock, had left the protagonist feeling something. I walked over, and pressed my hand to the Rock as Kukui followed behind. And as my palm touched the rock… I smiled. It felt… Not warm, but like the feeling of warmth on your skin under a sunny day. Or light filtering in through a window on a cozy morning.

"This is it." I repeated, absolutely sure this time.

Kukui didn't say anything as I looked at him, just curiously. Mimicking me and touching the rock, and nearly instantly I watched him flinch back, before reaching out again.

"What is that?"

"It's what lets an Eevee evolve into a Leafeon. A… Moss Rock, Apparently." I decided to use the name since it was rather telling. Hopefully it would let the information spread, and more of them could be found.

"It's definitely something. Luey?"

"Lu. Lucario." He barked as he reached over and touched it as well, flinching back just like Kukui. "Lu! Lucario lu!"

"Yeah I felt it too. Okay… Okay, let's say I think you're right Vicky. We just have to test it."

"Know anyone with an Eevee that would want a Leafeon?"

"Hmm…" He hummed a bit and pulled out his little GPS device. Seemingly getting the coordinates again. "I think… We should get out of here, I need to get some equipment to examine this, and make some calls."

"Sure." I agreed, smiling as I looked at the Moss Rock. "Thank you. For letting Eevee's turn into cute Leafeons. Well besides that one, anyways." I whispered to it, patting the rock for a moment before turning and joining Kukui, who was smiling at me, he'd definitely heard.

—--

"Okay, are you like planning this? Stealing my Pokemon?"

"Cabbage decided to stick around when you left. I don't think she knew what to do exactly." Mama explained, a bit embarrassed. She was sitting against a tree, and Leafeon was sprawled out in her lap, with a big little grin on her face as Mama was scritching at her belly.

"Huh. This is an interesting wrinkle." Kukui offered and I groaned. Fine, whatever. I didn't want a stupid Leafeon anyways! "Ask her if she wants to stay with you… I can just give you another Pokeball…" I grumbled and Mama smirked.

"How about it you over ripe Cabbage. Want to stay with me?" Mama asked, and Leafeon stretched up her back legs and batted at Mama's hand.

"Lee!" She practically purred, and Mama just smiled at the response, before looking up at me, and quickly hiding her smile.

"It's fine. You should be happy… Pokemon thief." I grumbled, and Kukui was fighting back some laughter as he listened on.

"It'll probably cause even more issues with that Kahuna." Mama warned, actually sounding resigned, but I shrugged.

"Doubt it, we found it after all." I said and Mama looked up in surprise.

"Really?"

"Yeah, a big boulder thataways. Thing is just covered in Moss, and if you touch it, you can feel something. It's definitely what caused the Eevee Evolution. I'm calling it a Moss Rock, and no one can stop me, since I discovered it!"

"That's… Actually true." Kukui replied after a moment.

"Should call it a Vicky Rock then." Mama said with a grin.

"Blegh, no way! That's cringe!" I denied and Mama just laughed at my response.

"Lot of researchers like to put their name to things… But I think Moss Rock sounds perfect." Kukui added, sounding proud… Aaaa. Don't do that! That's my weakness!

"Thank you." I decided to say, avoiding the way my face was heating up. "The most interesting thing is trying to find some way to find more of them." I said and Kukui, already following along nodded.

"That's right. If we can narrow down the energy of the Moss Rock, we might be able to make a detector… Well maybe the Aether Foundation could anyways… I'll need to call Lusamine."

"Not if I'm here!" I denied instantly throwing up my arms in an X.

"What, who is Lusamine? Vicky?" Mama asked, and I just shook my head quickly.

"Nothing! She's no one!"

"She's the Founder of the Aether Foundation… Oh, and she asked Vicky to marry her son, last time I saw them together."

"Kukui… You traitor." I whispered and he just broke into laughter at my horrified whisper.

"Wha… Pfft! Hahahaha!" Mama broke into her own laughter, absolutely belly laughing at the idea. Leafeon startled a bit in her lap at her reaction. "Oh! Oh my! I'll have to meet this Lusamine then! See if her son is good enough for my Vicky."

"Mama… No." I whispered desperately, but her smile… Oh no. She was going to do it.

I was never going to live this down. There was only one choice. Escape with my pokemon and live as a hermit for the rest of my life. Probably beat up some Legendaries and become a hidden monster that only appeared in the endgame as a secret final boss.

It was the only way.