Chapter 13: Infiltrator

“What?” that challenge had caught me by complete surprise

“We always said we’d face each other when we got our starters. Now that we’re both bonded, it’s time to nut up or shut up.”

“Ah well, you see, the thing is…” I awkwardly scratched my head.

“Don't tell me… You still haven’t bonded to your starter?” he gave me a look of complete disbelief.

“I’ve been a little busy,” I snarked.

“Well you aren’t now. Get the show on the road, Slowpoke!”

“Alright, alright.” I fished the shrunken Pokéball from my pocket, but hesitated to press the button. If I was being honest, I had been avoiding this moment. Until I formed a bond with the Zorua, my options were still open. That… and I was afraid.

I still remembered that brief connection I made with the Duskull. The hunger had briefly overwhelmed me, and that wasn’t even a full bond. Sure, I was uniquely acquainted with the ethereal energies associated with death and the void, but that didn’t make me infallible, and going crazy terrified me.

In my previous life, I had a friend that developed schizophrenia in highschool. Over a year, I watched him slowly devolve. All of his warmth, joy, and dreams melted away as he got lost in his own head. There’d be days where he’d be his usual self, but most of the time he was confused and depressed.

Once, in trigonometry, he began freaking out and ran from the room. I followed after him, worried he was hurt. I found him trying to kick down the door to a maintenance closet. Voices were telling him a death ray was hidden inside.

It took the combined effort of myself, the school security officer, and two other kids to restrain him, and even then he wouldn’t stop struggling until a janitor unlocked the door to show the interior.

I was gripping one of his shoulders, so I saw his reaction when the room was revealed to be empty. There was confusion and disbelief at first, but then it morphed into fear. Not fear of the imagined death ray. Fear of himself.

He was sobbing an apology to everyone as the officer took him away. I never saw him again. His family withdrew him from school and moved across the country to try some experimental treatment.

That had literally been a lifetime ago, but I could still remember that moment. The look in his eyes when he realized he couldn’t trust himself. It had given me nightmares for weeks.

“What’s the holdup?” I was brought back to the moment by an impatient Gary.

“Just… Savoring the moment,” I pointed the ball at the ground, and pressed its top. A thin beam flashed out, and the sphere snapped open in my hand. A cloud of red aura traveled down the beam and manifested into the little fox.

Zorua. One of the most feared dark types in the world. Particularly infamous because of their reputation of abducting and impersonating children. I hoped Dot wasn’t too frightened.

“Jowker!” my little sister jumped from our chair and was hugging the fearsome fox a moment later, “Thewre you awre. I was so wowrried!”

“Wha-?”

“Lai-Lai, you showld hawve towld me you hawd Jowker!” she chastised me.

“Wait? Your imaginary friend?” my brain wasn’t working.

“She’s nawt imawginawry!” Dot gave me a hard look.

“But, but-” the little fox gave me a cheeky grin and suddenly morphed into a pink Ponyta doll. A very familiar one. I’d learned all of Dot’s toy’s from her many tea parties. This one was-

“Lady cupcake!” Dot clapped enthusiastically and lifted the disguised Zorua. The Pokémon truly was a master of illusions. To me, it looked like Dot was holding the horse shaped doll. Another morph and Dot was holding the fox again. Her arms were in completely different positions!

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

The Zorua stared back at me. I must have been making quite a face, because she began to laugh. It was high and squeaky at first, but morphed to a deep and raspy cackle. It sounded so familiar.

“Seeeeee. I towld you. Jowker is always lawghing. Thawts why she’s Jowker.” Dot beamed.

“Has this Pokémon been secretly living with you, Dot?” Gary asked, looking disturbed.

“Uh-hu,” she giggled.

“Creepy,” Daisy shuddered. I had to agree. Was this Zorua planning on abducting and replacing Dot? I needed to get it away from her, so I subtly aimed thePokéball for a recall.

“She’s nawt cweepy,” Dot was quite offended, “we’er bewst fwiends.”

That wasn’t an exaggeration. Over the months that Joker had been Dot’s imaginary friend, I had been inundated by stories from the little girl. Convoluted tales of the adventures and journeys they’d gone on together. I’d waved them off as nonsense, made up by my overimaginative sister, and most likely still were, but some rang differently now… Actually, one was particularly memorable.

Last night. In retrospect, I didn’t understand how Dot had survived the attack from the rampaging Spearow before I got there. It had taken me a few moments to get to her after I heard her scream, more than enough time for the bird to pick off a defenseless girl. When I’d asked, she’d said Joker saved her…

“Dot. Can I have Joker please?” I gave her a reassuring smile.

“Oowkaaay.” she happily plopped the Pokémon in my lap. The Zorua looked up at me with a smug little grin, and I placed my hand on her head.

The aura communion formed after a moment, and I could suddenly feel the little Pokémon’s emotions. She was quite proud of her long running prank, completely oblivious of all the problems it had caused me. I wanted to be upset, but first I had to know.

“You saved Dot from the Spearow, didn’t you?” I asked the trickster.

“What?” Gary interrupted.

“Shh!” Daisy hushed him with an accompanying punch to the shoulder. That was going to leave a mark.

The master of illusions nodded resolutely and spun around, presenting her hindquarters to me. I was confused at first, but then I saw the thin red line, scratching through the fur on her lower back. I’d helped Joy enough in the center to recognize it as the mark left by a wing attack. It must have been powerful to partially break through her aura.

“Thank you,” Dot probably owed this Zorua her life. I’d have to pay her back somehow.

The little fox spun back around and smiled up at me. Her emotions were filled with pride in her actions, and joy for rescuing her human friend. All of my doubts were washed away. This fox was worth going crazy for.

With a few deep breaths, I sunk into the darkness in my core, but for the first time it wasn’t completely dark. At one of the edges of my being, instead of the infinite darkness, there was a light; another aura presence.

Their core was wild and untamed, like mine was before condensing. Typical for a young Pokémon. With a force of will, I pushed at the border between our two beings, and suddenly found myself on the other side.

It was strange being inside someone else’s spirit. My consciousness manifested as an actual spiritual body, shaped the same as my flesh and blood equivalent. Everything was hazy and out of focus, and every motion took incredible effort to accomplish.

Also, her inner world wasn’t a black void like mine. It was too murky for me to really make out, but it almost looked like I was surrounded by trees. The motes of aura swirled through their ephemeral branches.

I struggled through the ethereal forest for a time, and eventually reached the center. There, a ghostly Zorua stood. She noticed my approach, and slowly turned to greet me, but it was like watching a video on ultra slow motion. That was actually faster than I had expected.

While Pokémon were masters of external aura manipulation, and could casually perform abilities that even the greatest human masters would never equal, they were absolute crap when it came to internal control.

Thus was the dichotomy of humans and Pokémon. Each was good at a single aspect, and only when bound together could they reach greatness. A lesson in friendship and cooperation from Mew, or so the Mewists believe. I’m sure the other religions had different interpretations.

I finally reached Joker’s spiritual being, she hadn’t even completed her first step, and placed my hand upon her head, mirroring our physical bodies.

There was a strange sensation, like nothing I'd ever felt before. Waves of emotion swirled through me as the clouds of aura began to writhe and pulse. It was nearly overwhelming. I could stop it if I wanted, as could she, but this was meant to happen.

With a pop, everything suddenly changed. Her spiritual world came into focus and the pressure that had been slowing my movements disappeared. The confusing jumble of emotions I had been receiving from Joker suddenly were crystal clear.

With a jolt, I was back in my body, looking down at the real Zorua, who was grinning up at me.

“Hello Joker,” I mumbled and stroked the red tuft on her head.

I got a cheeky grin and a pulse of strange aura. It was filled with amusement and ridicule. I imagined it to mean, ‘Greetings Servant.’

Definitely a joker.