Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Weekend Off
The next day
*BEEP*
*BEEP*
*BEEP*
*BEEP*
Leon groggily opened his eyes, greeted by the sight of children already bustling about in a cheerful manner.
Turning his gaze forward, Leon's eyes adjusted his tired to an obese child curled up into a ball, staring directly at him.
"What are you looking at tubby?" Leon, still groggy, addressed the obese child who kept staring at him from across the room.
The child scarcely shifted his gaze downwards, his lips trembling in fear as he anxiously wove and unwove his fingers, teetering back and forth with slight progressive movements.
Leon raised an eyebrow, observing the kid's repeated twitching, until a look of realization dawned on his face.
'Is that kid retarded-'
"Hey look, the freaks doing it again." A kid laughed heartily, interrupting Leon's train of thought while walking in front of the kid.
"Geez, it really creeps me out." Another sneered and turned away in disgust. Leon, watching this, only yawned before getting out of bed without a care in the world.
"Look, look, watch what happens when I do this!" The kid suddenly waved his hand back and forth over a line tapped around the kid's space.
"N-NO, NO!" The kid's voice trembled, his hands fluttering anxiously as he spoke with immense distress.
"No way, let me try!" The other kid joyfully laughed, waving his hand back and forth over the line.
"Space, in my space!" The obese kid started to tear up, clutching his eyes tightly while trying to cope with the intrusion.
'Did I get mouthwash or something?' Leon thought internally, completely uncaring in the clear bullying in front of him as the only thing Leon cared about was his own gains and losses, and he didn't see any gain in helping a weird autistic kid.
"Alright, now check this out." The kid nudged his friend, grabbing a box of toothpicks from the side.
"Hey Fatass, how many toothpicks." The kid threw a box of toothpicks on the ground as Leon took a toothbrush and toothpaste out of his bag, gifted to him along with his awards.
"N-No order!" The kid leaped off his bed toward the spilled toothpicks that had encroached on his space.
Furiously pushing them from his space, he looked on the verge of tears as the countless toothpicks pointed in all different directions in such a sloppy way which drove his mind to the absolute edge.
"No way Fatso guesses that Mark." The kid shook his head in dismay, unable to believe in something so ridiculous.
"Oh c'mon Joshua, he's done it before-"
"3-3-3-3-3-345." The obese kid suddenly said while shaking back and forth while grabbing his hair, unable to stop himself from unconsciously counting them.
"Wrong, it says there are 350 in the box!" Joshua laughed, hitting his friend thinking he'd join in while watching the fat kid.
"Uh Joshua, look." Mark walked over to Joshua, showing him the box containing five toothpicks.
"Oh? I guess he was right." Joshua nodded his head, causing Mark to laugh at his friend's words.
Then once the toothpicks were pushed out from his space, he climbed back on his bed before curling up into a ball.
"Hey bro, even though the barrak's advisor doesn't come on the weekend, won't Chad get mad about the mess?" Joshua suddenly asked, side-eyeing Chad pumping some Iron in the corner.
"Watch this." Mark smiled while suddenly kicking some of the toothpicks closer to the kid.
*Thump*
"NO! NO! NO!" The kid anxiously rushed from his bed before slamming into the floor though he didn't even care as he started anxiously picking up the toothpicks.
"Oh, well I guess that solves it." Mark's friend shrugged while they walked away.
Leon wasn't even paying attention to the situation since it was none of his business what happened to others not in his circle or area of influence.
In actuality, Leon was relieved to have a day off since even in that past month, all he focused on was either his pokemon or getting his body into at least decent shape.
"Good to know mint is the same." Leon smiled, taking a whiff of his toothpaste before putting the cap back on.
"Alright let's-" Leon turned his head, his words halting, accidentally catching a sight he wasn't meant to see.
There, he saw the kid who had been anxiously picking up toothpicks attempt to reach under the bed for a lone toothpick.
His fingers strained to grasp it, causing it to wobble precariously. Leon froze, rubbing his eyes, only to see the kid successfully retrieve the toothpick from under the bed.
"O-Order." The kid smiled in relief after carefully putting the last toothpick evenly back into the box.
Then the kid looked around, seemingly checking his surroundings only to see how everyone avoided even gazing at him except one particular person.
"Hello." Leon suddenly started waving at the kid who flinched before immediately looking away.
Instead of taking the hint, Leon hopped off the bed while strolling over to the kid who started to tap his fingers against each other.
'He did something and whatever that was, it made that toothpick move.' Leon thought, swearing to the heavens above and below that he saw that toothpick move.
'And besides, it wouldn't hurt getting to know someone else is this godforsaken bay.' Leon thought, stepping before the line as the kid's eyes were zoned in on his feet about to touch his space.
Maybe it was from being punched in the face and having his brain rattled so much, but Leon needed to know if this kid was special or just... special.
"I'm Leon, what's your name?" Leon held out his hand, but the kid started rocking back and forth, unable to meet Leon's gaze.
'Befriending a loner shouldn't be hard-' Leon thought, holding out his hand further only for the kid to grab his head in distress.
"Space!" The kid yelled, pointing his index finger at him instead of offering a handshake.
"Wha-"
"Space! My space, please leave my space!" The kid's voice became a little louder, causing some eyes to turn.
However, once they saw the culprit, their gazes ceased, as if this was a common issue. Chad scrunched his eyebrows after seeing Leon interacting with Hugo.
He immediately stood up, but his feet halted after witnessing Leon's next actions and hearing his words.
"My bad, I apologize." Leon looked down to see that his fingers had crossed the little lines enclosing the kid in his little area before carefully returning behind it.
"F-forgiven."Hugo exasperatedly nodded his head, twiddling with his fingers as he shuffled over to his bed, seemingly regaining his breath.
His movements were incredibly precise, almost machine-like, as if they had been calculated to move at the most efficient speed to make the bed as fast as possible, despite it being disturbed when he jumped off it moments ago.
"What's your name?" Leon inquired with an awkward smile, watching him twitch and cradle himself back and forth.
"H-H-H-Hugo." Hugo swiftly said, scrambling to the area Leon stepped over, scrubbing it fiercely with a toothbrush.
He looked as if he was going to cry, until he smiled as the stain washed away, while Leon observed the situation before him.
"Hugo, do you want to be friends?" Leon's eyes narrowed into crescent moons as he asked directly, causing Hugo to flinch.
"F-Friends?" Hugo anxiously repeated the word while constantly turning his head to look at different areas of the ceiling.
"Yeah friends y'know the-"
"Friends: a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection or defined by the Johto dictionary: a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard." Hugo twitched his head while closing one eye while taking two steps to the right while recollecting the exact definition of what a friend was defined as.
"R-Right." Leon scratched his head while agreeing with him.
Truthfully, Leon had only had brief encounters with mentally challenged people in the past, as some of his subordinates had family members on the spectrum.
This meant he barely ever actively conversed with them, which led to his next thoughts. However, the only efforts Leon ever made with them were secondhand, as he usually simply asked his subordinates about them to
'But how do I communicate with someone on another wavelength?' Leon scratched his head, finding that understanding Pokémon seemed easier than talking to Hugo right now.
Hugo started to sweat at Leon's silence. He wasn't good at starting or carrying a conversation. When he tried, the only movement that came out was his fingers.
Hugo actually wanted to talk to Leon since they seemed to be in the same situation, but he never expected him to initiate the conversation.
"Is that a yes?" Leon asked, confused, to which Hugo nodded his head.
"Yes... friend," Hugo replied, turning his gaze to the floor as Leon nodded.
"Great!" Leon exclaimed excitedly, finding the interaction easier than he thought as Hugo recoiled backwards at his over exaggerated gesture.
"Alright, no touching, got it," Leon chuckled, pulling his hand back.
"Leon, what are you doing?" Chad suddenly walked to the side of the two making Leon roll his eyes.
"Nothing, just having a conversation with Hugo, right Hugo?" Leon gestured to Hugo, who twisted his head to the side while putting his hands together.
"Y-yes," Hugo answered before sighing in relief and closing his eyes.
"Hello, Hugo," Chad smiled, waving to Hugo, which caused Leon to raise an eyebrow.
"H-Hi, C-Chad!" Hugo closed his eyes, trying his best to squeeze out a response.
"Is Leon here trying to make you do something you don't want to do?" Chad politely asked, waiting for Hugo to respond.
"What's with this interrogation? Are you a wannabe cop-"
"Don't," Chad coldly spoke out, causing Leon to back up and put his hands up indicating the surrender of the joke.
Leon's instincts screamed at him as he felt a sudden murderous intent wash over him. The veins in Chad's arm bulged as he gripped them tightly.
Upon closer inspection through a small crevasse in his hair, two burning eyes filled to the brim with pure, unbridled rage could be seen.
"Didn't think such a hulking figure like yourself would have such a weak spot for the color blue." Leon couldn't help himself and made a joke out of pure reflex.
"L-Leon is my f-friend!" Hugo finally voiced out his response to Chad as his body shook violently in shock.
'Wow, that was easier than I thought.' Leon thought that since normal people would take a while to get used to someone, but he guessed Hugo wasn't exactly normal.
"Hey fee fie foo fume, you're scaring Hugo so scram." Leon pointed to Hugo as Chad flinched before forcefully claiming his anger down.
"Hugo, I'm sorry I didn't mean too." Chad took a step forward however Hugo took two steps back.
"I-It's fine." Hugo clapped his hands together in response before swaying back and forth.
Chad hung his head, taking a deep breath as he tried to regain his composure completely before finally lifting his head upwards.
"I apologize for my outburst." Chad nodded his head to Hugo before turning around.
"Hey Chad." Leon suddenly spoke out causing Chad to halt his movements before he could completely change his body.
*Sigh*
"I didn't mean to cross any boundaries-"
"No, it's my fault I overreacted." Chad politely responded while resuming his movements.
Leon pinched his nose in annoyance as he honestly didn't mean to provoke Chad like that, but it was a sort of nervous tick of his to never back down while saying something smug to mask it.
No one hated cops more than Leon and when you're in this line of business, your so-called arch-nemesis are the boys in blue.
"Chad is a good person, please don't fight!" Hugo, anxiously trying to squeeze out the words he so desperately wanted to say, recoiled in sadness as he watched Chad leave before he could finish.
Leon pulled his hand down across his face, his eyes landing on Hugo's constantly twitching figure.
This world was significantly different from his last, and with new beginnings came new paths.
One of those paths was the opportunity to nurture talented subordinates for his future goals, but the most important aspect Leon was looking for, the only one that mattered, was loyalty.
Loyalty was the key characteristic of what Leon defined when describing a good subordinate.
He had had many subordinates throughout his life, but he could only remember the ones who were willing to take a bullet for him.
Now, it was different.
Loyalty was important, and it was the part Leon would be looking for when recruiting people, but now he also had to focus on talent.
In a world where people could literally create fire and make their bodies as hard as rock, people who could shoot well might not be enough.
*Sigh*
'Well, I got to start somewhere.' Leon's intent gaze made Hugo incredibly nervous as he took two steps to the left and began counting all the hairs growing on his pubescent arm.
'I mean, I basically turned the whole bay against me and ruined my chances with making any buddies here so might as well make one acquaintance, even though he's a little weird.' Leon scratched his head while looking at Hugo.
*BEEP*
"CHOW, CHOW!" Hugo immediately cried out, his alarm beeping as he scrambled to the side.
"Is it already time?"
"That freak usually isn't wrong about times."
"Whatever, we'll play cards later."
The others in the surroundings didn't question Hugo's announcement. Leon looked around to see the members walking towards a line, with Chad starting to lead it.
"Hey Hugo, what's happening?" Leon looked at Hugo, taking out three spotless utensils being a fork, spoon, and knife.
Gently wrapping it in a black cloth, he clutched it towards the center of his chest as if it was the most important thing in the world before looking at Leon.
"T-Time to eat." Hugo responded, smiling at the ground as chow time was one of the few times in his life where he could relax.
"I see." Leon rubbed his chin, walking to his bag before scoping it and slinging it over his shoulder.
No way would Leon trust his only worldly possession in this bay after what happened last night, so he and Hugo entered the back of the line.
The next few moments eerily resembled kindergarten as they all filled up with their line leader Chad before walking in a single file, organized line towards the cafeteria.
Seemingly walking in a sloped manner, Leon arrived in a huge corridor made out of an old abandoned storm shelter, which acted as the dining hall for the numerous members in training.
"Woah." Leon was surprised by how wide and long the cafeteria was as the line shuffled along to the counter.
There were already around one hundred kids lining up to receive their portions as Leon grabbed one of the trays that wasn't broken and lined up alongside Hugo, who held his tray dear to his heart.
Moving at a snail's pace, Leon eventually made his way to the very front of the line to the attendant scooping stuff eerily similar to food onto their tray.
"Hey gorgeous, do you have any smiles for me today?" Leon asked the pseudo lunch lady who wasn't anything close to our standard of beauty unless you preferred gorgons.
*Thump*
The lunch lady scooped the slop with meat chunks onto the tray as Leon nodded his head before looking up.
"Any gravy, beautiful?" Leon asked the lunch lady, stared him dead in the eyes before scooping some gravy and pouring it on the tray.
"You're a real doll." Leon winked at her before taking the tray and watching Hugo sit at the end of an already occupied table.
Walking over to the occupied table filled with laughter and smiles, he was greeted by the immediate evacuation of literally everyone except Hugo, who was too busy organizing his food.
"Being here is just so fun, I can feel the sincere camaraderie from every corner!" Leon spoke out in a self deprecating tone, stabbing his spoon into the food before yanking the salt and pepper shakers from the side.
Covering the slop-induced meat chunks with a dressing of gravy, salt, and pepper, he set the tray down before taking a scoop of this mystery food into his system.
"Mmmmm, I can really taste the hatred and contempt, what about you Hugo?" Leon nodded to himself, his taste buds crying at the thought of having to eat this, as he looked up at Hugo.
Instead of digging in, Hugo evenly distributed the slop all across his tray before lining his fork and knife to the side.
Perfectly symmetrical, Hugo carefully took his spoon and scooped the slop with a single meat chunk before eating it.
Dabbing his face three times, Hugo redistributed the rest of his food before repeating the process all over again.
Leon leaned on his palm, grabbing the salt shaker, deciding it was better to taste only salt than whatever the lunch lady was going for when making this.
"So Hugo, do you have any poke-mon?" Leon decided to make small talk about a topic that the people of this world might enjoy.
Hugo closed his eyes in response, rocking back and forth. Leon waited for the words to come out, still shaking the salt onto his slop.
"N-Not anymore, she died." Hugo looked as if he'd cry after finally revealing his pent up words.
"Oh." Leon slowly stopped shaking the salt, then scratched his head. It was silent for a while before Leon watched Hugo resume his eating pattern as Leon then took a bite of his own food.
"It hurts that this somehow tastes better now." Leon relented before looking up at Hugo who was already finishing his food.
"Here do you want mine-"
"DO NOT CONTAMINATE, DO NOT!" Hugo suddenly screeched as Leon was about to scrape his food into his tray, causing Leon to immediately set it down.
"Woah, woah calm down Hugo-"
"Not contamination, everything must be even, it must be even." Hugo grabbed his head, rocking back and forth as Leon held up his hands.
"Alright man, alright." Leon looked around, noticing some passing glances before he looked back.
It took a while, but Hugo eventually calmed back down and started eating again, while Leon waited.
"Hey Hugo, can I ask you a question?" Leon asked as Hugo nodded his head lightly, setting his spoon to the side after finishing his meal.
"There are energy users in the gang right?" Leon asked Hugo who nodded his head in affirmation.
"Do they stay in the bay like us?" Leon asked, raising an eyebrow while looking at Hugo who shook his head.
"T-They receive their own room." Hugo revealed as Leon nodded his head, crossing his arm while looking at Hugo.
'I'm sure he made that toothpick, but it doesn't make any sense if he did.' Leon thought, looking at Hugo simply staring at the ground waiting for chow time to be over.
'This kid is treated like sh*t, constantly bullied, and has no friends so why would he even want to hide it-' Leon thought internally until he realized something while looking at Hugo in another light.
Only then did his eyes widen as he realized something about Hugo, he wasn't like a normal person and thus might not respond to the common narrative.
"Hey Hugo, what do you think of change?" Leon suddenly asked Hugo who immediately started to shake at his words.
"I mean the kind where they just take you away from the place where you finally found comfort after so long?" Leon asked Hugo who started fidgeting vigorously while shaking his head.
"Would not enjoy it." Hugo responded quietly as Leon nodded his head while looking at him.
'I'll need to look into energy users more.' Leon thought, not wanting to suddenly put him on the stand in fear of scaring him off.
The last thing Leon wanted to do was spook this easily scared guy and ruin his chance to have someone with an actual superpower under him.
No, if Leon played this right, then he could have a subordinate wholly dependent on him, and that idea made him incredibly happy.
"You know something Hugo, I think we're going to have a friendship that spans a lifetime." Leon scooped up some of the slope below and ate it as Hugo ducked his head.
However as he rocked back and forth, Hugo smiled as they slowly walked back to the bay before disappearing to do whatever it was they were doing before.
"Hey Tucker, isn't that the guy that kicked your ass-"
"SHUT UP HENRY!"
Leon's ear twitched, though he pretended that he didn't hear anything, however, his ears were now locked onto him.
Knowing that Tucker was behind him, Leon didn't show any emotion on his face since, in all honesty, he thought nothing of Tucker.
In fact, the whole spiel about gutting him like a fish wasn't entirely accurate since Leon had another intended purpose for Tucker.
Leon knew wholeheartedly that Tucker would seek revenge on him one way or another, but Leon was actually keen on it.
When you have enemies, it's not the ones who point a gun to your head that you should fear, but instead the ones constantly sharpening their knives behind your back.
However, people like Tucker always had a knack for drawing others into their conflicts and trash always hung around other trash.
Right now, Leon didn't know the kind of circles that were formed in this gang so Leon was going to use Tucker as bait to figure out the worst of the worst.
It was horrible, but Leon was going to continue pushing Tucker to the edge until he had strained all his connections until he turned to the worst of the worst within the circles.
Then once Leon learned of the nefarious side of the Ariados gang environment, Tucker would be dealt with properly.
'But now we wait.' Leon thought internally, focusing on the conversation to find new ways to destroy Tucker's psyche.
"Anyways man, how's your squad doing recently, I've heard that you've been barely scraping by on your quota." Henry patted Tucker's shoulder, flinching for the pat since Leon's inflicted wounds hadn't come close to healing.
"It doesn't make sense, we've delivered so much but always end up barely coming up short." Tucker grabbed his hair in distress, his nerves shaking from the looming punishment if they one day didn't make their quota.
"I swear, if I have to suffer because of Richi-"
"C'mon man, you know that we've got your back and didn't Vernon say that he'd arrange for you to join our squad soon?" Henry laughed out as Tucker let out a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, I'll just have to stick it out until then."
Leon quietly ate his slop until it was time for them to return to the bay as Leon lunged onto his bed.
Looking up from the face plant into his sheets, he gazed across the hall at Hugo grabbing his toothbrush as he started cleaning his area.
"So Hugo, you a native of here?" Leon asked Hugo who started scrubbing the floor furiously.
"Personally I'm from the local orphanage but I prefer to be associated as a nomad-"
*Sigh*
Leon simply sighed through his upcoming joke while looking down at Hugo who continued to scrub.
"Real question this time, am I unfunny?" Leon asked, this question weighing on his mind as Hugo slowly stopped scrubbing the floor.
"......." Hugo was quiet however it was enough for Leon to understand as he stood there nodding.
"You're right, I am hilarious." Leon sighed at his gift while looking over to the side to see some kids looking over pokemon type books.
Walking up, Leon strolled over to them before swiping the books from his hand as they didn't complain but scowled at him with immense hatred.
Plopping back onto the bed, Leon had yet to memorize all the type advantages, weaknesses, and immunities, thinking that this would be the perfect time to figure it all out.
Two days later,
Over the next day, Leon relaxed without a care in the world, studying the type book while simply talking to Hugo on the side.
The reason he continued to talk to him was that Hugo would always agree with him, no matter what, which had formed a game where he asked the most random things and had Hugo agree.
Now sitting on the bed with a book in one hand, he threw a ball he stole from a kid at the wall with the other while Hugo scraped the bed frame of imaginary stains.
"So do you always have to clean everything or is it just the things that go into your space?" Leon asked, from across the bed while throwing the ball at the wall and catching it.
"I-I-If your space is clean, your life is clean." Hugo scrubbed the floor viciously as Leon thought about it but nodded until he thought of another question.
Leon was simply wasting time, as today was the day that Sam had said they would pick him up to show him the ropes.
"Where do you even get all of these cleaning supplies-"
*BAM*
*BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURP*
"Line up you f*cking sh*t stains!"
Author's Note: Forgot it was final's week so that is why I hadn't posted
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone