It had only been two days since Zoroark had first arrived in this strange place and allied herself with Volo.
To say it had been rough would be an understatement. The man had, fortunately, returned his Garchomp shortly after they had come to an alliance. He never released it again since she first laid eyes on it, saying it would need to be saved for emergencies, yet the threat it posed was evident. Similarly, Spiritomb was left in its Poke ball, the ominous Pokémon no longer cackling at her in the hopes of goading her to do something stupid so it could retaliate. How anyone could stand being around that thing was beyond here. It seems like its trainer didn’t want to deal with the malicious ghost either, given it wasn’t brought up.
Volo still desired to have a Pokémon out at all moments, however, the human not wanting to risk anything as they ventured into the unknown forest. During the night, Zoroark found herself in the company of a green plant with roses for its hands as well as a canine with red-orange fur and igneous rocks firmly stuck into parts of its body, namely around its head and on its tail. Fortunately, neither of them seemed to be as troublesome as the dragon or the ghost. So long as she didn’t do anything the Roserade deemed suspicious during the night, it would lazily sit by its trainer’s tent as he slept.
The Arcanine, meanwhile, seemed all too happy for new company. It was limping on one of its legs, clearly having injured it severely at some point. Apparently, it had that injury for months now, having suffered permanent damage in a bad fight. The injury wouldn’t fix itself, likely needing something more substantial than the medicine Volo could afford. Arcanine had tried to get her to play with it, always seeming to find a branch for her to throw so it could fetch it. At first, she refused vehemently. Then the canine started whining every night. Volo, of course, merely laughed at her plight and told her to “get used to it”, the human all too happy to leave her with the issue.
So, Zoroark humored the canine. She had never seen a Pokémon be so happy when it caught on to her use of illusions to fool it into chasing a fake stick. The dog was a good Pokémon. It was unfortunate she couldn’t say the same about the rest of Volo’s team.
Especially their daytime escort. Zoroark turned her eyes towards the stern looking jackal with steel spikes on the back of its hands and on the front of its chest. How Volo managed to control a Lucario was beyond her, given that they would only trust those that were ‘righteous’ and were obsessed with justice, neither of which seemed like an apt description for Volo from what she’s seen so far. Either she should take the man’s convictions more seriously or, somehow, he found a deviant Lucario.
Given the clear mistrust Lucario had displayed for the entirety of their journey so far, its eyes shifting towards her every so often to make sure she wasn’t behaving abnormally, it didn’t seem too different from the image of its kind. It was always positioning itself between her and its trainer, the jackal clearly protective and having little faith in her. She was tempted to voice her opinion on it but found it may be wiser to stay quiet. It wouldn’t do to irritate everyone.
Zoroark let out a silent sigh. This was exhausting to deal with. She found herself with too much time on her paws, which gave her ample time to fully appreciate the current situation.
Home was probably gone, and she was no longer in the Alabaster Icelands. Now, she was in this green forest filled with too many unknowns. The pack was likely gone, or at the very least changed and hidden. She could investigate, yet even if she found a group of Zorua and Zoroark, they wouldn’t be her pack anymore.
It was fortunate she didn’t have to deal with Garchomp as of the moment, as she was still sore over the affair. The dragon hadn’t even seemed to recognize her, making the matter even more insulting. She was peeved and angered on a constant basis, the mere act of being in such an odd situation going against her very nature. Yet she managed to reign things in, not wanting the situation to get volatile.
Her eyes drifted to the area around her as she walked, noting the assortment of odd plants and Pokémon alike. They had been heading in the same direction for days now. She needed a distraction from her negative thoughts. She noted the curious eyes peering at her as she walked, both familiar and unfamiliar Pokémon populating the woods. She recognized certain common Pokémon mulling about, such as Bidoof and more Starly, yet there were all too many she had never seen before. A green spider with a face on its backside hung from a tree as a blue plant with green leaves sprouting from its head ran around in the distance, changing hiding spots every time she caught sight of it as it played its own little game. A purple rat chased after a flying brown and cream-colored bird, both seeming to be playing with each other, which struck her as odd. She had expected the bird to be chasing down its meal, yet here the opposite was happening.
This world was strange. None of the Pokémon showed outward hostility and they hadn’t seen a single Alpha since arriving. If anything, the Pokémon seemed almost too curious and peaceful. She did not flare her ghost-type aura and kept her emotions in check for the most part, so perhaps they’d react differently if she let herself loose a bit. The few times she began letting her aura leak had quickly turned the Lucario aggressive, to its trainer’s amusement. Every time, Volo would order it to stop, yet the warning from the jackal was clear. She had the feeling he was purposely letting it remind her not to act out.
The sun was beginning to set in the horizon. Zoroark hadn’t noticed, having been mostly stuck in her own mind for the most part. Volo had attempted small talk, at first. She didn’t reply, or at most offered a few words responses. This led to him making audible observations about the environment and his thoughts as they walked, to the benefit and detriment of all around him.
At night, he would offer advice and shared his different contingencies plans for different scenarios, as well as a few gems of advice. Most of what was said required little on her part, so she focused on improving her illusions, as that was what was deemed most critical.
Volo had proposed she hide herself amongst the humans, should they be around. He was aware that humanity could be vastly different from what they knew, so he merely said she should figure out a general appearance that she could confidently alter to suit their needs.
Zoroark agreed to that, given that most people had a negative perception of Zoroark. There were some that didn’t, but she also wanted to avoid the type. She had no interest in spending most of her time locked in a ball. She began to forge a human guise and identity to not stand out amongst people.
She started by copying Volo’s appearance as a base, which led to the man pointing out several issues to her.
----------------------------------------
“First of all, I’m uncertain if you’ll be able to adequately use your claws as hands. That’s a rather major obstacle that will trouble you. Humans use tools, and tools require a certain degree of dexterity,” he told her as he was preparing camp for the night, Lucario nodding its head in agreement to Volo’s words despite its clear dislike for her. Lucario still glared at her, its disapproval at illusions evident. Naturally, she did not like it anymore than it liked her.
Though it might also have to do with her wearing the face of Volo. It was an illusion, but she wasn’t not trying to irritate the annoying jackal. Lucario didn’t really try and speak up on the matter either, given its trainer didn’t seem to mind as he was offering her unprompted advice. She would have preferred he kept his nose out of her things, yet the man seemed resolute on befriending her for his own reasons.
She ignored the Lucario and experimentally squeezed her paw beneath the illusion of a human hand. Volo had a point. Humans did seem to have an abundance of objects that required dexterity. Yet she felt confident she could manage after some amount of practice, though getting that practice in may be difficult.
Likewise, Volo shared a similar thought. “I believe Zoroark are capable of learning some psychic-type moves, so it’s likely you could mimic human dexterity through the right use of moves,” he simply shared, his experience training Pokémon showing itself. “Should that fail, you could also manipulate things through the clever use of ghost-type energies. Shadow Claw could be altered to give you something like hands, though I can’t speak for how efficient it would be to uphold on the long term.”
As much as she hated to admit it, the human’s ideas were good. She felt it wouldn’t be too difficult to create a small and responsive hand. As for awakening inert psychic talents… She doubted that would be easily possible. Her mastery over psychic energies was abysmal.
As she thought, Volo finished setting up his tent. He stood up and rubbed the dirt off his hands. He then stepped closer to the Zoroark, ignoring the discomfort it caused her. Even though he couldn’t see her reaction beneath the illusion, it was clear she preferred keeping a distance from people.
“Secondly, illusions have a glaring flaw,” he added. He stepped even further into Zoroark’s personal space, the Lucario tensing as it stepped forward in case its trainer was attacked. Without hesitation, Volo moved his hand to the illusion’s head and through it. His hand caught onto her mane of white and dark red hair. Zoroark growled at the undesired contact, fury welling up within her, causing the man to back up with his hands held up to show he meant no harm. Lucario took a stance beside him, clearly ready to intervene should Zoroark feel like retaliating. She settled on glaring at them both.
“Sorry, didn’t think you’d take that so poorly. As you could probably guess though, that will be an issue if people get too close. They’ll notice it when they feel something soft that shouldn’t there,” Volo said, giving a pointed glance to her thick mane.
Zoroark frowned but conceded he had a point, despite how angered she was at being touched. It didn’t help that her hair was called ‘soft’. That left her feeling conflicted. She did feel confident she could create an illusion that covered the senses, as other Zoroark were capable of doing some frankly absurd things, but she doubted she could master it enough on her own for there not to be flaws.
“Lastly,” Volo pressed on, his hands slowly coming down to rest by his side. “You’re trying to look identical to me and seem to be using me as a basis. That isn’t going to work and will only cause further issues. People will question things, and we want people asking as few questions as possible. Two people appearing out of no where will already raise their guard under most circumstances. Two people that look extremely similar? Well, there’ll be a lot more questions.”
“I’d recommend making something that’s closer to your real features, so you can explain any anomalies away. The best lies are always ones built on the truth,” he confidently concluded with, the man’s Lucario looking at him oddly for a moment before falling into silent contemplation.
She nodded, agreeing with his statement despite her distaste for the man. That seemed liked good advice, all things considered. Yet a pressing thought came to her. “Why help with this?” she couldn’t help but ask, her voice still slightly off yet improving leaps and bounds. It was odd that he had pushed for the idea and odder still he was actively trying to help her fool people.
Volo hummed for a brief, thinking on his reply. “Because it’s in your nature,” he settled on. “Illusions come naturally to you, and I wager knowing you could blend in anywhere will make you feel safer. I also believe it may help with your grudge against humanity.”
Zoroark frowned. That grudge was not going anywhere, as far as she was concerned. But she would admit that knowing she could fool humans made her feel more secure. Lucario radiated disapproval, though it did seem to agree it’d be good to get over her grudge. She felt like that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
“It’s also what friends are supposed to do, to my understanding,” Volo finished on, to which Zoroark scoffed. It was clear the man was trying to get in her good graces, but she was almost certain he had ulterior motives.
Fortunately, Volo needed to sleep and left her on that. She went back to training, not needing to sleep as much as the man or most of his Pokémon. Being a ghost-type was a curse in most senses, but it did have its share of advantages. She couldn’t help but spare one last glance at Lucario as he was returned and replaced by Roserade and Arcanine, the lazy plant seating itself on a rock near Volo’s tent and the canine excitedly limping around as it sniffed at the environment it would likely play in for the night.
She’d need to keep working on her illusion. She wanted to be prepared as soon as possible.
----------------------------------------
The next night, Zoroark was crafting an illusion more in line with her image, having tinkered with one that felt in tune with her nature throughout the day.
Tonight, she felt confident she had something worthwhile. The ‘hair’ she had settled on was identical to her regular mane, even the colors and ends of it matching it, if not more in tune with what humans normally had. Some of them had white hair, so it shouldn’t stand out too much if she did. Her irises were a similar yellow to her natural eyes and she kept most facial features she had as a Zoroark, such as the red lining along her eyes and the white markings on her cheeks, merely applying them to a human’s face. It was apparently called ‘makeup’, Roserade having informed her that humans did so with minerals to mimic certain Pokémon features. A part of her was pleased by the fact that many women sought ‘fox-like features’, though it also perplexed her as to why they’d want to look like something they feared and shunned. Additionally, she ‘wore’ a kimono with a thick fur scarf around her neck and large sleeves, using them to hide the mane beneath her neck and her larger forearms.
She was staring into the pond they had built camp by, attempting to see her features as best as she could. At first, she was merely going to settle on copying Volo’s face, yet she couldn’t help but toy around. Her features were now slightly softer than his now and different enough that she didn’t look like a relative to the man. Hopefully, this would suffice.
Her illusions were a manifestation of her spite, and this felt like it loosely fit the mold. She was, in essence, rubbing the fact she was a Zoroark in humanity’s face, all without them knowing. Or so the theory was.
“The hair may raise some brows and the general look will make people think of a Zoroark, but I doubt people will immediately think you’re one of them. At worst, they’ll probably think you have an unhealthy obsession with them. Which is true, in a sense,” Volo commented, having snuck up on her while she stared at herself. Next to him was Roserade, who had a more critical eye and slowly nodded its agreement. Further back, Arcanine was curiously sniffing around the clearing they had claimed for the night. “Now all we need for you is a name and to get our stories straight.”
Zoroark scowled, her illusion taking a second to follow the motion. She would need to work on keeping her true and fake self in tune, but that wouldn’t be too difficult. The illusion was perfect to please her spiteful nature, allowing her to rub her existence in the face of people. It’d be a lot more difficult to keep an illusion up if she didn’t work with her spite, as it was the shape her ghost-type energies came in. Humans and their need for unique names were annoying and confusing, however. At least crafting herself a backstory would be easy.
“No name comes to mind, but I know what I will be,” Zoroark said through its illusion. She straightened her back and turned to Volo to stare up at the man. How unfair. He was taller than her by at least a full foot, her illusion being as tall as her true self. She folded her hands into her ‘sleeves’ and smirked at the man, undeterred by such a detail. “I will be a refined, aloof and noble rich lady,” she confidently declared.
Silence followed.
Roserade snorted. Volo could barely keep his face straight. “Ro. Serade~” the plant eventually commented.
Zoroark snarled, offended. How dare she! She could be elegant! “I am dressed elegantly enough to pass off as a noble,” she said in her defense. “And I do have the right kind of personality for it!”
Roserade was about to reply but was stopped with a hand from its trainer. The bouquet Pokémon looked up at him before settling on a smirk, its eyes staring at Zoroark.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have the funds to support that kind of background,” Volo said, trying to gently put her idea down. “Furthermore, people could try and verify your claims on the long term. It’d be smarter to go with something a bit more… Low profile.”
Zoroark huffed. She just couldn’t have fun, could she? Being revered just because of a made-up title seemed like such an amusing thing too. When she had caught wind of that detail from her spying on humans in the Alabaster Icelands when she was a Zorua, she had always wanted to try it.
“How about I take the lead when it comes to people and, depending on what we find out, you adjust accordingly?” Volo offered. “In exchange, I’ll follow your lead when it comes to Pokémon.”
She thought over his proposal. It seemed fair, especially considering there wasn’t any proof humanity was still around. Knowing her luck however, they would be around. She couldn’t help but think the man would go back on his proposal when it came to Pokémon, however, should it become inconvenient for him. However, she was also aware she had little experience with human civilization. Being able to safely observe things and then act how she sees fit seemed like a good idea, at least for now.
“I suppose I could give you the honor of leading us when it comes to the common folk,” Zoroark haughtily said, doing her best impression of a “Lady” as she sternly looked at the man. Her expression faltered slightly at Roserade’s clear amusement.
At least Arcanine seemed convinced she was a person, the canine wagging its tail as it approached and sniffed her with curiosity.
It then licked her face, breaking the illusion momentarily and slightly hurting her with its burning tongue. Drat. Looks like she’d have to keep that weakness in mind.
----------------------------------------
The next day found the group walking once more, unsurprisingly.
The forest became less dense and there were less Pokémon as they moved forward, seeming to near the shore given the sounds coming up ahead. She found it strange that there had only been two disputes with other Pokémon so far, both of which had ended almost immediately by a flare of her Bitter Malice without needing Lucario to step in. The jackal didn’t seem to mind her doing its job, but she found a degree of joy in denying it, nevertheless.
At least the Pokémon here knew she was a proper threat. Volo had been guiding them for the passed few days in the same direction, the trees making it difficult to catch sight of any true landmarks. They caught glimpses of a mountain range in the distance, yet it didn’t seem like the man wanted to head that way. He was searching for the shore or a town which, she supposed, is what they found.
Zoroark caught glimpses of blue through the dense foliage. Finally, she’d be free from this forest. They had been travelling for long enough. All she wanted is to know where they were now. Volo sped up his steps slightly once he caught sight of the water too, the man never having grown exhausted despite spending almost entire days walking. Lucario followed him, seemingly unbothered by the long trek. She followed and, as the forest turned to beach, she found herself staring at the sea. The sands were an odd feeling on her feet, but she found she couldn’t quite focus on that.
Her attention was fully pulled by the large white metal creature in the distant sea, billowing smoke out of the back of one of its cylinders. It roared its might as it-
“That’s a boat,” Volo interrupted her thoughts as he stared at it, clearly recognizing it. He smiled widely, seemingly relieved. “At least, I think it is. There must be people near here.”
Similarly, Lucario seemed hopeful. The jackal was a little distraught at the odd sight, yet it too seemed eager to see people. Or maybe it just wanted to do so since its trainer wanted to. Personally, Zoroark would have preferred never finding another human again. Though that would have also meant she was practicing for so long for no reason.
“If we follow the shore, we should find a settlement or docks,” he spoke just loud enough for her to hear, exhaustion leaking into his voice. It seemed the man was fairing worse than she expected. “Or we should, anyways. That boat looked bigger than any I’ve seen, but it was shaped like one should be,” he muttered to himself.
Not having seen boats back in Hisui, Zoroark was left to take the man’s word for it. She was hesitant on following a human to a settlement, however. That rung all sorts of alarm bells in her mind. Yet she looked back towards the slowly moving boat in the far distance… Something told her she needed to know where humans were at in her world.
If they could build devices like that, they could likely do a lot more.
----------------------------------------
A short walk later found an illusion clad Zoroark, Volo and Lucario nearing a wide dirt road leading away from the beach. A sign with two arrows pointing in two opposite direction was at the edge of the road, planted into the sand. One pointed to the sea while the other pointed north, each one having words written on them. Following the sign pointing north, she could spot smoke billowing up to the sky.
She was slightly confused, believing there was a fire. Volo was beginning to step that way but was stopped by Zoroark speaking up. “Wait. We need a plan.”
“We already discussed our plan. It’s just a town. You don’t need to follow me if you’re unsure,” he said with a hint of impatience, Lucario likewise seeming eager to get to the human settlement. Volo looked to her, stopped in the middle of the road. “Ah, you couldn’t read the sign,” he concluded.
He paused, thinking things over for a moment. “Look, I have Pokémon that have been injured for nearly a while that I want looked over. If you don’t want to come, stick to outside the road. I’ll come back later,” he eventually offered.
Zoroark thought for a second. Did she feel safe, letting this man go into a settlement without her?
No, she did not.
“Garchomp and Arcanine will be fine,” Zoroark replied. “He can wait.”
Volo sighed and rubbed his forehead beneath his bangs. “It’s not them I’m worried about. I have another Pokémon that’s severely injured. I didn’t want to risk letting her out for any reason since I’m not confident I’d be able to stabilize her. That’s why I’d rather hurry and see if they can help.”
Zoroark paused at that. So, the man had six total Pokémon rather than the five she thought he had. He had also opted to use a full restore on her rather than his sixth, causing mixed thoughts to come to mind. On the one hand, she was grateful. On the other… Shouldn’t someone prioritize their own over others?
“So, you healed me instead of her,” she eventually replied after considering things. “Why?”
“It’s… Complicated,” Volo replied slowly. “Look, I’d rather not get into it. You’ve been keeping plenty to yourself, so I’d appreciate you letting me do the same.”
“Lucario. Cario, Lu,” the jackal finally decided to speak up from next to its trainer, expressing its own opinion and causing Zoroark to frown.
“You’re right,” she reluctantly admitted to the jackal with a slow nod. It wasn’t wrong in saying trust went both ways. She also recognized she was slightly on edge by the prospect of going into a human village. Lucario seemed surprised at her reply, seeming to expect more as it stared at her. “I do expect an explanation for something so important, however,” she added after a few seconds of silence.
Volo sighed, looking between Lucario and Zoroark as he considered his next action. “If you must know I may as well tell you. My last Pokémon is a Togekiss that got severely injured inside the space-time distortion. It was accidentally harmed by my Garchomp, so there’s going to be a conflict within the team due to it,” he eventually offered. “Does knowing that satisfy your curiosity?”
Zoroark nodded uncertainly. She didn’t really know what a Togekiss was, but the explanation would suffice. Yet the fact they were harmed by the dragon too… She could see it happening accidentally. What she couldn’t fully believe was he only had one life saving item in his bag. There was likely more at play here. She was also aware she didn’t give the human much of a chance to prove he was trustworthy, though. Lucario, despite being a pain, was not wrong on that. She would have to try and give them some benefit of the doubt.
“Alright. We’re going, then,” Volo said with a sigh, seemingly defeated and not wanting to linger around any longer. He began following the road, walking at a brisk speed with Lucario in tow.
It took a moment, but Zoroark followed the man towards the town. She could try and give Volo and the town a chance, but she didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.
----------------------------------------
The town was not what she was expecting. Clearly, Volo wasn’t expecting it to look this way either. The man was apprehensive the moment they saw past where the sands ended and the trees split, giving way to the buildings beyond. The group was currently staring down at the town from the top of a small hill, all of them having desired a better view the moment they saw the oddity of the place, despite the human’s urgency in getting treatment for his Togekiss.
The first thing that struck Zoroark as odd was the fact the settlement had no walls surrounding it. The second thing was just how massive the town was. The land had been cleared and flattened, for no land could be so naturally flat. Houses were packed in certain areas, whereas others were distributed sparingly with a great deal of space between them. There were a few odd landmarks that stuck out to her, such as the large red building with a glowing sign that appeared to be an Apricorn ball and its blue counterpart. Roads led around the town, connecting every building together and to the dirt roads that led in and out of the place. Along every major road were posts lined with wires that connected to the buildings. It was fortunate they hadn’t encountered any people yet, but shapes that could be seen milling about in the distance were without a doubt human.
Beyond the clearing the town was situated in stood a tall mountain, far away in the distance. It looked closely like Mount Coronet, yet at the same time was vastly different. The mountain range they had seen was just a small part of its whole.
To say Zoroark had mixed feelings about this place would be an understatement. On the one hand, she recognized it’d be relatively easy to sneak in and get out of here. Her safety, at the very least, didn’t seem to be in jeopardy given it’d be difficult to corner her, should the humans find her out. On the other hand, the unnatural size and layout of this place horrified her. She looked over to Volo, who appeared to be going through similar thoughts. His face was set in a frown as he looked the place over. Likewise, Lucario seemed to be having complicated thoughts on what it was seeing.
At least they all probably agreed this place was wrong. Zoroark comforted herself by rationalizing they had likely just stumbled on the largest human settlement they could have. There was, after all, absolutely no way Pokémon would tolerate anything larger than this. It was a prime and easy target for aggressive Pokémon, who would take offense to something that posed a risk to their territory.
…A prime target for aggressive Pokémon that, so far, they hadn’t encountered. A picture was beginning to form in her head.
“There has to be thousands of people living down there,” Volo quietly spoke into the silence, breaking Zoroark out of her thoughts. She looked over and found Lucario giving a slow nod in agreement next to the blonde man. “I didn’t think humanity would change this much. The location does seem familiar, but I can’t quite point out why. This isn’t Jubilife.”
Silence hung in the air as they continued to look over the town.
“Thank you for escorting us, but I think it’s best you stay hidden for now. We want to keep a low profile,” Volo eventually said to Lucario as he offered it a poliyr smile. Lucario turned, looking like it wanted to stay. After a moment of hesitation, however, it gave a slow nod, agreeing to be returned. Volo pulled out the jackal’s Poke ball and, with a single press of the button on the front, returned the Lucario into its prison through a red beam.
The man then turned to Zoroark. “I’d appreciate it if you followed my lead. I’d like to focus on information gathering and finding medical assistance. A place this large must have a lot of things it could offer, and we shouldn’t stand out too much.”
“I just want to know what happened to my pack,” Zoroark share, turning to stare up at the man. So far, she didn’t know what exactly it was he was looking for here, but she had the feeling she would find out soon enough. “Anything else is of little importance to me.”
“I suppose I should have expected as much,” Volo replied with a lopsided smile. “We’ll also need to sell some things I brought with me. I gathered a few valuable and rare items. I can’t imagine the value of evolution stones or gold nuggets having gone too far down.”
Zoroark slowly nodded, unsure if she agreed. Things changed drastically, so who knew what could be down there.
“Well then! Let’s finally meet some people,” the blonde man said. He tightly gripped his bag and moved forward down the hill. It took a moment, but Zoroark followed him.