“So, basically, Leon is like the second strongest trainer in all of Galar since he got beat by the ex-champ who should be the one up there in the Masters Eight Tournament but left the champion spot for whatever reason. Ugh, never really understood that kid! Like, why bother doing all that if you’re just going to run off somewhere after the fact!” Klara complained.

Zoroark – or Kora, if you only knew her as a human – found herself in an odd situation. She was alone with Klara, Volo opting to stay at the Pokémon Center to deal with any complications regarding Togekiss. The man was obviously worried about his Pokémon. He was also motivated to leave Klara to her, given she had opted to give the girl a chance.

She was beginning to regret her decision. She should have let Volo handled it.

“Aaaanyways! Point being is that I don’t think Leon is really all that! I mean, he didn’t even have to fight the scariest Champions, like Cynthia or Steven. Those guys are suuuperduuuper scary! And they both got beat by Ash, who’s Alola’s champ,” she went on as they walked towards a faraway building, the pink-haired girl’s ramblings causing Zoroark to consider running to the treeline. “So even if Leon does win or something, people will think he got it handed to him since Ash beat the real competition. I mean, Leon did, like, beat Alain and Diantha pretty one-handedly but they’re not like super high up there y’know?”

“I don’t understand,” Kora replied, so far having only offered those words to the conversation. It did not discourage Klara in the slightest, however.

“Oohh right! Super remote place, forgot. Gotcha,” Klara said as she eagerly nodded her head. “Man, I’m just so excited to see how it ends is all. But, like, I gotta ask what inspired your whole fancy look? Sorta looks Gothita but not really ‘cuz of the kimono. Threw me like waaaay off!”

It took a moment for Kora to parse through what she was asking. The question was about her appearance. Probably.

“Is it good or bad?” she eventually asked, wanting to know whether she should be offended or just exasperated.

“Oh, it’s super nice! Makes you look like one of those elegant old-fashioned types!” Klara replied.

“Thank you, then,” Kora replied with a nod of her head. Ha! She could make people believe she was an elegant lady!

“Just the crazy hair threw me way off,” Klara added, causing Zoroark to frown internally. “Like, don’t get me wrong, it’s a good punk look but it’s a punk look. Your branding is all over the place! Can’t have that as a trainer!” Klara continued.

And she was lost again. She had a ‘punk look’, whatever that meant. She did catch something that irked her at the end though. “I’m not a trainer,” Kora corrected.

“Huh?” Klara stopped and turned to face her, the ‘professor’s lab’ not too far behind her. “You aren’t? Then why are you here?”

“I don’t know,” she simply replied in an all too exasperated tone. “Volo told me to go. So I went.”

“Ah, yeah. Volo does kind of seem like the pushy. But like, why are you here? In Sandgem Town? In Sinnoh?” Klara asked, staring intently into Kora’s eyes. “Sorta weird for someone to go far-off without Pokémon,” she then added.

Zoroark paused. Klara was, indirectly, bringing up a good point. Why was she here? It was clear this was far away in the future from the land she knew of.

There was a loose promise from Volo about fixing the world that was at the back of her mind, but… She doubted something like that was possible. Even if it were, she wasn’t certain she could trust Volo to fix things. Some things were just irreparable.

She thought back on her pack, which served as her primary motivation in the Alabaster Icelands. They were her family in all but name. They were also most likely gone now.

She took a deep breath. They wouldn’t want her to lament them. At least not here and now. In the future, when she felt confident in her safety, she could. Yet thinking of them did motivate her. It was possible some far off descendants of her pack were out there.

“I want to learn more about certain Pokémon that… were important to my people,” Kora eventually settled on, half lying. If anything would push her forward, it’s finding out what happened to her pack and all other Zoroark. “Being here is my only real choice, so I’ll try and make use of the opportunity.”

“Learn more about your people…?” Klara’s brows furrowed as she took a moment to think, only for her eyes to widen.

“Ohhh! That explains it!” she stated and looked like she was about to jump in excitement. “Of course, you’re from one of those tribes! Like the uh… the draconerds or something! That explains a lot about you guys! No wonder you’re so odd!”

Kora had no idea what she was talking about, but it looked like it would help explain her identity. She offered the girl a sheepish smile and a slight nod, playing along. She was slightly peeved at being called odd by someone who seemed friendless, but she could bite that down.

“Does that mean Cynthia is from one too?! There’s like no way she’s not related to Volo. Ohhhh the people online are going to go nuts when they find out! I’m going to get soooo many likes!” Klara rambled on, Kora furrowing her brows as she spoke.

“I’d appreciate you not sharing these details,” Kora spoke up, causing the pink-haired woman to freeze. She wasn’t sure what “online” or “likes” meant, but none of it sounded good.

“Oh. Right. Right! Tribes are super secretive for some reason,” Klara said and turned to look at the ‘lab’ behind her. She pointed back at it with her thumb. “You’ll have to tell Professor Rowan though if you want a license. It’s the only way you’re getting one of those without the right papers or ID.”

“We’ll see,” Kora replied. She’d be the one to decide on what to share with “Professor Rowan”.

Zoroark looked at the building. It was a metal dome of some sort connecting to another building that appeared to be a tall tower of made of red bricks. Some sort of object – a windmill, she was told after asking Klara with a pointed finger – was attached to the tower and spinning slowly. The sun was just about to set in the far-off distance, so it was hopefully going to be the last thing she dealt with for the day.

Knowing her luck, something else was bound to creep up though. She also had no idea where they were supposed to sleep.

“I don’t know if I want a license, but I suppose it’s worth seeing how things are done,” Kora said as she walked forward, preparing herself to meet this Professor Rowan.

----------------------------------------

“Please leave, Klara,” the man in the white coat said from behind his desk that was against a wall, the dark spots under his eyes making it clear he hadn’t slept well for days. Despite that, the dark-haired man continued to stare at a flat screen, paying little attention to them beyond a quick glance and sigh once he saw pink hair.

It looked like humans were obsessed with their TVs.

“Heey! C’mon, I’m not here for anything bad! I swear!” the pink-haired woman defended herself.

“Why is it I don’t believe you?” the man replied, his hand holding some sort of device and clicking on it every few seconds, causing the scene on the TV to change minutely. How odd.

“I’m not THAT bad! I’m just very… Passionate,” Klara protested. “Anyways, I’m not here for me! I brought someone looking to get a license plus another one lined up at the Poke Center.”

The man behind the desk sighed and looked towards them, his exhausted eyes fixing Klara with a glare before turning to Kora.

“New trainer, huh? Word of advice; stay away from Klara,” he offered.

“I’ve noticed her peculiarities, but I do appreciate the warning,” Kora responded, earning a slightly offended pout from Klara. She ignored it and bowed her upper body slightly forward and dipped her head, playing the elegant lady. She had gathered from Klara’s ramblings the man was important. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Professor Rowan.”

“I’m not the professor. I’m Yuzo, one of his assistants,” the man replied, causing Kora to stiffen. A smile crept on Yuzo’s face, and he changed his tone. “At least you’re polite. I was worried for a second you’d be trouble like Klara.”

Kora was slightly upset she was being respectful to the wrong human. Yet it did have the desired effect of giving a good impression. Her mood was likely sour due to the constant exposure to humans she had dealt with since she got here. It was likely she’d need a way to mitigate that, or else an outburst was imminent.

“Anyways, you’re here for a license, right? Hmm…” Yuzo rubbed his chin in thought as he stared at the ceiling. “Do you have any Pokémon? It’d simplify the process if you had a starter already. The professor does have a few Pokémon, but they aren’t the standard Sinnoh starters.”

Kora found herself frowning despite herself. “You just give Pokémon away?” she asked with some amount of anger, berating herself almost immediately for doing so. Questioning their values would bring more attention to herself.

“Oh no! Not at all,” Yuzo said, easing her slightly. “Obviously we try and find suitable trainers that will respect them. They need to be accepted by the Pokémon too, otherwise trainer and Pokémon alike are up for a rough start. Lastly, we do follow-ups to make sure there’s nothing bad going on. There’s a couple of bad apples that pop up, so we do our best to stop them.”

Kora couldn’t help but frown. It wasn’t perfect, but at least they weren’t handing Pokémon off to anyone. The mere fact they were handing Pokémon off rubbed her the wrong way still. Furthermore, they were still trapped in Poke balls. The very least she could compliment them on is the fact they weren’t being cruel about it.

“I see. Thank you for clarifying,” Kora replied slowly, her tone remaining neutral.

“I can tell you have doubts, but we do try our best to do what’s right for them,” the man said as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head with one hand. “Back to my original question, however…”

“I do not have any Pokémon, no,” Kora offered, finding the idea irritating and ridiculous. They were not tools to use nor something you owned. “I don’t believe I ever want to own one, either.”

“Err…” Yuzo offered her a confused look, seeming unsure of what to say to that. “Then why are you here? No offense, but…”

A silence filled the air as she considered his question. She knew she was only here because of Volo’s insistence on getting trainer licenses to minimize suspicion. Before she could come up with an answer, however, Klara spoke up.

“She’s from a tribe. Probably some weird customs they have,” Klara helpfully shared her ‘secret’, earning a look from Kora. Klara, noticing, merely shrugged. “He might as well know. Trust me, things will go a lot smoother if you’re just up front about it,” she added, Kora doubting the statement.

“Ah? Well, this might be above my paygrade then,” Yuzo replied with a sigh as he leaned back in his chair. He stayed quiet for a few moments before standing up. “Let me get the professor. He’ll be interested in what you have to say.”

Yuzo left through a door. With that, Kora was left alone with Klara.

A silence was left between them, Klara seeming confused and Kora glaring at her from the corner of her eye.

She couldn’t help but feel anger at the woman for sharing her secret without her permission, even if the results might be positive. That was a matter of trust. Just another thing that proves that all humans are lying, untrustworthy, conniving-

Her rage paused as the door opened. Kora couldn’t help but freeze. She recognized the man who showed up. A flurry of emotions came forward, yet she couldn’t help but stick to one at the back of her mind. There was the slightest shard of hope.

Before her stood a stern looking man with a set of white hair and sideburns, as well as a large bushy white mustache. His bushy brows looked as though they were always in a state of furrowing. He also wore a similar lab coat to Yuzo over his clothing.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

He looked much older, but this was the same man that she had seen riding a Braviary in the Alabaster Icelands. She took a deep breath. Then she deflated slightly, realization striking her.

This could be another Cynthia situation, where the man simply looked like his ancestor.

Or… Maybe the world had simply changed a lot in a matter of years? It wasn’t impossible that so much had changed in a matter of years, was it? She could question the man before her and find out.

“Have you been to the Alabaster Icelands?” Kora asked as the man moved forward, causing him to pause. He perked a brow in curiosity, eyeing her curiously.

“An odd way to greet someone,” the man huffed out. “I suppose you’re the tribal Yuzo told me about. I take it you’re claiming to be from the Alabaster Icelands? I can safely say I’ve been in the area.”

“Possibly,” Kora carefully said, earning a curious glance from Klara. So the Icelands were still around. That could mean anything, but it felt like a good thing.

The man – likely Professor Rowan – let out a short but amused chuckle, earning a narrowed glare from Kora.

“I find that hard to believe. Snowpoint City is a well-known place, as is its surrounding area. It’s difficult to imagine there being a tribe there,” he stated. “Though I am curious as to why you used the old name for the area. Alabaster Icelands… That was the Hisuian Age name, correct?”

Kora felt her hope crushed instantly. So, it was a situation where the man merely looked like his ancient ancestor. That hurt more than she thought it would. Apparently, the others caught on to her discomfort, Klara shifting awkwardly and the professor leaning back.

“I apologize. I’m making it out to seem like I think you’re a liar,” the man tried to soothe. “I do not. I believe it may be best if we spoke alone though, as I have some suspicions I’d like to confirm,” he went on to add with a pointed glare to Klara, who pointed at herself.

“I’ll consider it a personal favor if you leave us, miss Klara. I will also update your Pokedex app before the season starts should you agree,” he stated. Kora was uncomfortable at the thought of being alone with the man, but it didn’t seem to matter.

Klara brightened up instantly. “Well… I guess I could wait outside while you guys talk!” she said as she made her way to the door, nearly skipping to it. “Good luck Kora! Just yell if you need me!” she added as she walked out with a wave, the door closing behind her.

Rowan looked at the sliding glass doors and furrowed his brow. “Come with me. I’d prefer speaking in my office,” he ordered, moving to the door he had originally come through.

Kora briefly glanced at the entrance to the building, questioning whether she should run off. Somehow, she knew running would just make things worse. Images of Volo and his Spiritomb hunting her down came to the forefront of her mind.

She’d have to go through this. He just seemed to want to ask questions, so it couldn’t be too bad.

----------------------------------------

“Take a seat,” Professor Rowan said as he pointed to the padded chair in front of him. It reminded her of the seating at the Pokémon Center, only smaller and seeming to have places to put your arms.

Kora followed the man’s instruction, sitting down very stiffly as she looked over her illusion to ensure everything was in place. She noticed that Yuzo was leaning against a table in the same room, the man drinking from a cup that she could barely smell. It was far too bitter, yet the man’s exhaustion seemed to be eased by it.

He caught on to her interest, the man smiling as he noticed her gaze. He raised the cup in her direction. “It’s coffee. Did you want some?”

“No,” she simply replied as she wrinkled her nose. She didn’t trust strange liquids, nor did she enjoy bitter things. Which somehow felt ironic, given she tapped into her own bitterness.

“What’s your name?” the professor questioned.

“Kora,” she offered, still adjusting to the name. It wasn’t hard to get used to, just off-putting.

“I see. Miss Kora. I have a few questions for you. I would like you to answer them honestly,” the professor said, earning a slow nod from the illusion-clad fox.

The likelihood of her entirely honest was low, but if something didn’t seem harmful to share, she wouldn’t mind being upfront.

“Two things struck me as odd when I saw you,” the professor started, the man crossing one leg above the other as he leaned his back into his padded chair. “Miss Kora, are you aware of what an aura is?”

Zoroark’s eyes widened, the fox needing to press down on its own illusion to keep it from automically revealing her surprise. That was annoying. And the human knew auras. But why was he… Oh.

Klara had made her angry. She had likely leaked her aura out and the man had caught on to that, somehow.

That girl was proving to be nothing but trouble. She really should have let Volo take the lead on all things human related. She might have just been found out because of a human.

Her silence was, apparently, answer enough. The professor slowly nodded his head. “I see,” he simply stated. “You’re already privy to a secret most people don’t know. If I had to guess… You have a dark-type aura, correct?”

Kora stiffened. She kept herself from laughing. Dark-type? Ha. No, she hated dark-types. But she wasn’t about to correct the man on it. It was likely he had already caught on to the fact she was a Pokémon. He did have sharp eyes, just like the commander in Hisui had. She didn’t need him knowing what sort of Pokémon to send after her.

“Something along those lines,” Kora replied. She leaned her elbow on the chair and rested her head in her palm. Or, at least, her illusion did. The fox beneath was looking around for any obvious exits.

She spotted a window. That could work.

“How do you know what auras are?” she couldn’t help but ask. Before running off, she needed to confirm her suspicions. If the man showed signs of thinking she was a Pokémon, she would run.

Rowan hummed in thought, seeming to consider his answer. “I suppose I can share some of what I know. You aren’t the only human that has one. There are several people with auras in each region, though what allows them to use it is still up for discussion,” he offered. “As a Pokémon Professor, I am somewhat informed on most of these matters.”

So humans had auras. She almost let out a sigh of relief, now knowing the man still thought she was a human. The idea that humans could tap into the same sort of power as Pokémon, however… That was frightening.

“It strikes me as odd that a woman with no Pokémon has an aura, however,” he added, Zoroark preventing herself from squirming in panic at the statement. “It was theorized that, to develop an aura, one had to have a strong bond with their Pokémon. Have you truly never owned a Pokémon before?”

She paused and considered what the man was saying. It took a moment, but something to explain her circumstances came to mind. The best lies are always built on the truth.

“I have been in the presence and earned the trust of a great deal of Pokémon,” she replied, recalling Volo’s advice. “I do not have any interest in owning Pokémon, despite that.”

The professor perked a curious brow up. “Yuzo mentioned that. Care to elaborate as to why?”

She let out a thoughtful hum, seeming to have caught the interest of both the professor and his assistant. She considered how honest she should be on the matter.

The professor was a man of power, in a sense. He could sway opinions. She couldn’t quite tell how strong he was, yet she doubted he’d be at the level of Volo and his absurd team. Still, if he had influence, it wouldn’t hurt to try and share some of her gripes with humanity.

She weighed the risks and benefits of being honest and found there was little to lose. The man didn’t show signs of doubting her humanity, at the very least, so sharing some of her thoughts didn’t seem likely to out her.

“The thought of it disgusts me,” Kora eventually said as she leaned back, her gaze directed towards the professor’s face, trying to gauge his reaction. “From what I’ve seen, Pokémon are forced into ball-shaped prisons and only released to train and fight. I have no urge to participate in that.”

“Well now she’s just starting to sound like-“ Yuzo started, only to be stopped by a glare from the professor.

“Yuzo, lets avoid that for now,” the professor calmly told the man before turning back to Kora, the man seeming interested in what she had to say. His face remained a stony and hard to read mask, making it hard to guess at his thoughts.

“I should inform you that the current popular model of Poke balls is designed to be easily broken from the inside,” he offered. “Granted, there are some balls that are made to be as difficult to escape as possible. Though they weren’t meant for public use, some individuals still manage to get a hold of them.”

Kora listened and sighed. “I see,” she simply said, finding herself disappointed. It proved part of her worries – even if humans tried to help, others would do the opposite.

“Pokémon are also driven to get stronger for an assortment of reasons. I’m sure you’ve seen several of them training on their own if you’ve been around enough,” the professor added once Kora failed to speak up. “The League offers a safe way for those types of Pokémon to train in relative safety, rather than having them risk fighting and severely harming themselves or others out in nature.”

Kora offered little else. She saw his point but remained unimpressed.

“I can see your doubt,” Rowan said with a strained smile. “You are right for having it.”

She looked up at Rowan, her surprise evident. “You agree with me?”

“Most trainers catch any Pokémon that interests them, regardless of the Pokémon’s desires,” he confessed, causing Kora to furrow her brows. “They then force a bond with their Pokémon, leaving the latter with little choice in the matter. After all, most trainers weaken the Pokémon they want to catch, making it more difficult for them to resist. Some go so far as to knock them out. By the time they’re fighting fit, they’re already far away from home and in a strange place with only a stranger to support them.”

Kora frowned, finding that situation sounded eerily like her own. Rowan, seeing her frown, merely shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m not blind to the faults of our world,” he said. “I had a lot of time to think over the years. Someone as old as I am gets a lot of time to rethink on what they’ve seen.”

“There’s a reason I don’t get much sleep,” Yuzo offered, lifting his mug as he forced himself to smile. “Besides the overtime.”

“…Why admit all that?” Kora hesitantly asked, mixed feelings welling inside her. She felt validated, yet… Humans had validated her opinion.

“You aren’t the only one to have found the idea of owning Pokémon wrong,” Rowan answered, earning a nod from Yuzo as he drank from his cup. “There are a number of people – and trainers – that have brought up the issue.”

“Remember when N was around? Now that was-“ Yuzo said, only to be stopped by another glare from the professor. “Sorry, not often you get people like her,” he said.

“People like me?” she asked, curious. Hearing some humans had similar thoughts to her sparked something in her. If they thought like her, was it possible they were like her? She largely doubted it, but… It was possible.

“And who is N?” she couldn’t help but ask.

“Oh, you probably never heard of him if you’re from a tribe and never been around major towns,” Yuzo said. “He was the leader of Team Plasma in Unova. Basically, he held a similar philosophy to your own, except he wanted to liberate all Pokémon. Didn’t work out, but he did do a lot of damage and shook a lot of people. Things did get a bit better after that but… Well, it’s a long road. It’s impossible to catch and stop every bad trainer.”

“We’re going too far off topic, Yuzo,” Rowan pointedly reminded. “There’s still things to discuss.”

“Right, sorry,” Yuzo said with a tight smile. “But we do look for people like you since we know you won’t abuse any Pokémon we offer you.”

Kora furrowed her brows, her confusion evident. Why would they want to give Pokémon to people that don’t want them? Wouldn’t that just make problems worse?

“What Yuzo meant to say is we look for trainers that understand their Pokémon aren’t tools,” Rowan corrected, causing Kora to feel a pit in her stomach.

“However, there was something else I wanted to know,” Rowan added, easing the tension she felt before it returned twofold. “You recognized me and asked if I had been to the area around Snowpoint City. Or the Alabaster Icelands, as you called it. Where is your tribe located?”

Kora clearly hesitated, nearly squirming because of how intensely the man was staring at her. She had no idea what to say to that question, not having expected it.

She had also inadvertently dragged Volo into her “tribe”. This could get very bad very fast.

Rowan let out a long sigh. “I see,” he eventually said. “I’m aware most tribes are protective and secretive. I won’t force you to share anymore than you’re comfortable with,” he added.

He clearly misunderstood why she was uncomfortable with the question, but she wouldn’t correct his conclusion. She would have to give her thanks to the humans that lived in “tribes” for their convenient ways.

“Thank you,” she told the professor.

----------------------------------------

The conversation ended shortly from there, given that the day was coming to an end. By the time she walked out of the lab, she could make the moon out in the orange sky.

There was a lot said that she needed to unpack from her talks with the professor and his assistant. Kora had made her way out of the laboratory with no trouble, at least.

Rowan had shown an interest in giving her a Pokémon due to her beliefs and origin so he could “closely monitor her”, which seemed like something she didn’t want in any shape or form. At least the man didn’t seem to think she was lying on anything, which struck her as odd.

She was supposed to return tomorrow morning with Volo, yet she wasn’t convinced they’d still be here by then. She strongly suspected the man would want to move on to somewhere he would draw less attention to himself. She saw how irritated he got at being compared to Cynthia.

However, that was something for later. There was someone else she had to deal with now. Kora’s eyes drifted to the waiting form sitting by the glass doors of the laboratory.

Klara had been waiting, sitting in the grass, and leaning her back against the metal building. She would have found the gesture kind, were it not for the fact the woman was staring at a miniaturized TV she held in her hand. It was flat and barely bigger than the woman’s hand, causing her to doubt what it was at first. The sound coming from the device gave her little doubt, however.

Zoroark couldn’t help but feel anger at the woman. Klara had shared a secret she wasn’t meant to and, top make matters worse, she shared it almost immediately after being told not to. Granted, the secret was a made-up fact about her identity, but it could have landed her in trouble regardless.

“Haaa, you’re finally done. You’ve been in there for like an hour!” Klara tiredly said. “You’re soooo lucky I didn’t run off. The finals are airing soon, and I don’t want to miss ‘em!”

Kora perked a brow at that. Right, the inane competition on who was the strongest human. “I see,” she settled on saying as she walked forward.

“Hey, wait up!” Klara spluttered as she got to her feet to follow. “What happened in there? You look upset.”

“I am,” Kora simply answered as she continued to walk forward. She needed to go back to the ‘Pokémon Center’, so she found herself retracing her steps that had brought her here. The bright neon sign in the distance also served as a good landmark to follow.

“Huh?” Klara let out as she followed. “I mean, I know the professor’s pretty intimidating and all but-“

“I have no problem with the professor,” she interrupted and couldn’t help but sigh. “In fact, I am significantly impressed by him.”

If the man back in Hisui was anything like Rowan, she truly regretted not giving him a chance. She could imagine multiple ways things would have gone if she hadn’t tried running off. Yet she couldn’t fault herself for it. The man hadn’t spoken and essentially backed her into a corner.

She wasn’t prepared to trust anyone with her true self either, the only one knowing being Volo. And he only knew because of circumstances.

“You’re not mad at me then, are you?” Klara jokingly asked once she was beside her.

They continued to walk on in silence, Kora walking faster than before.

“Wait, you’re mad at me?!” Klara added in outrage after receiving no reply. “What did I do?!”

Zoroark stopped her steps. She struggled to contain a growl and bare her teeth. She took a deep breath and slowly turned to face Klara. Humans didn’t act like Zoroark. She needed to keep herself in check.

“You told them I was from a tribe without my permission,” she simply stated. Klara furrowed her brows.

“That’s it?” she asked, her confusion evident. Zoroark didn’t deign to reply.

“Well, that’s just plain stupid,” Klara said once it was clear she would receive nothing else. “Like, I told you you’d need to tell them if you want a license. All I did was give a little nudge to-“

“The results aren’t what matter here,” Kora interrupted with a raised voice. “It’s the breach of trust.”

“Man, knew you were a lil’ off but I didn’t think you’d be crazy,” Klara spoke with a frown. She then clicked her tongue. “Well, whatever. No skin off my back. Can’t believe you’re mad ‘cause I tried helping. Thought you’d be mad ‘cause I left you alone, but nah your irrational-”

Zoroark narrowed her eyes dangerously, tempted to do something stupid as a series of insults flowed out of the woman’s mouth.

She was awfully tempted. The satisfaction would be immense and immediate. But…

She sighed and turned, deciding it was best not to. She couldn’t afford to give herself away over something like this. She continued to walk towards the Pokémon Center, leaving Klara behind and deciding it was best to consult Volo on their next move forward.

There was a lot to go over. She had no intention of accepting the professor’s offer, the idea of carrying a Pokémon trapped in a ball with her more than a little off putting. She wasn’t interested in “liberating” Pokémon like N was, either. She recognized an impossible task when she saw one. Personally, she-

Kora let out a sigh and stopped.

“Why are you following me?” she asked out loud.

“I’m not,” Klara eventually replied, having stopped a fair distance away. “The Pokémon Center is that way.”

“And? What of it?” she couldn’t help but ask with some amount of impatience.

“It’s where trainers on the road usually sleep,” Klara tiredly replied.

Zoroark could hear the pink-haired woman fidgeting, her discomfort evident. She waited a moment and then started stomping towards the center again. She shouldn’t let a human get on her nerves so much.

Now, what was she thinking about again…? Ah, right. Personally, she thought the issue had grown too out of hand to properly address. It would take-

“Hey!” Klara yelled, stirring Zoroark out of her thoughts. She really should have listened to Volo and figure things out on their own.

“What?!” she yelled back, her irritation more than obvious.

“…’m sorry, alright?” Klara quietly said.

…Well that was unexpected.

“You’re sorry?” Kora asked after a moment, both impressed and unimpressed. They were just words, but they weren’t words she thought Klara would say. The girl seemed self-absorbed, so far as she could tell. Kora looked over her shoulder to stare at the pink-haired woman.

“Look, I’m not good with people,” Klara awkwardly scratched her cheek as she spoke, her eyes were glued to the side of the road, staring at whatever was not the person in front of them. “Like, I get it, y’know…? I’m not super easy to get along with. But you did give me a chance, so I guess I owe it to you too. So, sorry.”

Kora thought on her words. It did seem like Klara had trouble with other people. Now that she thought about it, the woman sort of reminded her of a particular Zorua that had trouble with others.

He was always behaving in a way that pushed at other’s boundaries, which caused some of the pack to try and distance themselves. The issue kept escalating, requiring constant interventions to keep the fox in check.

She also recalled how the Alpha had fixed the problem.

“I understand,” Kora offered after a moment of silence. She turned and approached Klara, the woman stiffening as she got closer. She stopped a few feet in front of her.

Klara furrowed her brows as Kora balled her hand into a fist. She then lightly hit Klara on the head with it, just like the Alpha would do to that Zorua whenever it caused trouble.

Klara squeaked and bent downwards, bringing both hands to the top of her head and rubbing at it. Her eyes were squeezed shut as she whimpered.

“What was that for?!” she yelled out.

“You know what it was for,” Kora replied, loosely remembering the words of the Alpha. Something like that always worked.

Klara winced and remained quiet, the girl rubbing her head in silence.

“…Yeah, I get it,” she eventually admitted with a defeated sigh as she got up, just like the Zorua would. “We’re even now, though.”

Kora, for the first time in a long while, let herself truly smile.

She was happy with that outcome. The Alpha truly knew best. She would strive to be like him until she fully understood his wise ways.

Her smile vanished when she saw the way Klara was staring at her. “What?” she couldn’t help but ask.

“It’s just… That was a really creepy smile,” Klara hesitantly said, the woman taking a step back as she spoke. “You were showing a lot of teeth and looked really mean.”

Kora frowned. Humans just couldn’t let her be happy.