Mokushiroku:

Chapter one: A new friend

And in conclusion, I think Lord N won because Lady Touko wasn't thinking straight… A little nine year old girl wrote, struggling to find a better answer to the question on her test.

"Five more minutes, class." Ms. Reggie said sharply, smearing five lines of chalk on the board.

"Um… urm…" She choked, her hand jittering in nerves, knowing that the King himself would be reading these. The girl let out a growl of frustration as her thin, frail, gnarled, stumpy wood pencil snapped into two. She reluctantly loosened her grip on the shorter half of the pencil, being that it was the half that had the led tip.

And in conclusion, I think Lord N won because he knew the truth. She finished, letting out a sigh of relief as Ms. Reggie erased one of the tallies, leaving only four.

Her sea colored eyes floated to her classmates' papers, watching as beads of sweat formed at their foreheads as they murmured nervously to themselves.

The only noise in the room was the quiet grumbles of students and the sound of pencil on paper.

Ms. Reggie strode over to the little girl's desk and peered down at her paper. "Hailey, your name. Don't forget your name, ok?" She said before walking back to the chalkboard, erasing three more tallies, leaving only one.

Hailey sighed and nervously wrote her name down next to the rest of her personal information. Schools these days required that your street name, address, phone number, full name (middle name included), and age. She gulped, feeling old lacerations reopen on her back. Hailey shivered, remembering the first time she messed up and got sent 'out back' to get reminded of the school's policy.

Hailey has been sent 'out back' right around four or maybe five times just because she forgot her address or how to spell her street's name, so she had left it blank. Sage Ghetsis did not appreciate 'her disrespectful behavior' and said that she must be punished.

Hailey wasn't the only child to get sent 'out back'. Every child, every adult, every elder had long scars draped over their shoulders and carved into their backs. Anyone who forgot to write personal information to verify that it was you, left city boundaries, or interacted with a Pokémon would be punished. Anyone who dared to attempt to catch or battle a Pokémon, or planned an uprising would be put to death.

"Hailey! What did we just talk about this morning?" Ms. Reggie glowered, writing her name on the board.

Hailey let out a quiet gasp, straightening her posture, crossing her legs neatly beneath her desk, and folding her hands together atop of the desk. "Sorry, Ms. Reggie." She murmured, not meeting her teacher's gaze.

"See me after class."

Hailey gulped, knowing what would happen to her during her extended stay in the classroom. "Yes, Ms. Reggie."

A few of her classmates shot her brief sympathetic gazes, some even mouthing "I'm sorry." to her.

Hailey's classroom was never loud, no spitballs were launched, no paper airplanes took flight, no toys were smuggled into the classroom, no back talking ever occurred, no notes were passed, no side conversations took place. It was a stiff, stale aired classroom. Children only spoke if it was to ask to use the restroom, go to the nurses' office, ask a reasonable question, or answer a question.

"Everyone, pack your stuff then turn in your essays before you leave. The bell's about to leave." Ms. Reggie said, erasing the final tally mark on the board.

Hailey turned in her paper, put her stuff away like she was supposed to, then folded her hands and crossed her legs and straightened her back while she waited for her classmates to clear out. Once every child had left, Ms. Reggie turned to Hailey.

"Hailey," she exhaled sharply, beginning to draw a poorly drawn stick figure on the chalk board. "THIS is what you looked like today." Ms. Reggie glared, backing away from the board so the little chocolate haired girl could see.

A stick figure sat at what looked like a desk, legs completely spread apart, hands on the stick figure's lap, and the figure's back was bent so it looked like the face was staring at the desk.

"What do you have to say for yourself? You're lucky that I like you, Hailey. If it had been John or Claire who'd done this I would've sent them out back before class was over." Ms. Reggie spat, her voice like venom.

Hailey flinched, forcing herself to keep eye-contact with the chocolate-eyed teacher. "I… I was just really nervous. I mean, the Lord himself will be reading my paper so I guess I just lost focus. I apologize for my offensive behavior… it won't happen again." Hailey promised, breaking eye contact with her curly haired teacher.

"Good. But remember, if this happens again I won't go easy on you." She warned, dismissing the girl.

Hailey nodded, stringing her backpack over her thin shoulders. "Thank you, see you on Monday." She whispered, speed walking out of the room.

XXX

The oak's shade revived Hailey in a way, making her almost forget what happened earlier that day- the essay, the slouching, the stick figure. The castle was in her view, only a block or two away from her school and home. She smiled as she flipped another page in the book she was reading, The Pecha Fields. It was assigned by Ms. Reggie, but Hailey loved reading, so she didn't mind.

Hailey quickly became engrossed in the novel, ignoring the neighborhood kids as they waved at her or said "hello Hailey." The only thing that would ever get the young girl out of her reading trance was if someone pinched, patted, or tore the book from her hands. The girl still took in the background noise, but it went in one ear and out the other, she wouldn't remember a thing that happened around her.

Samuel then reached across the river and grabbed the ripened berry by its stem- Two paws interrupted her reading as they slapped onto her thighs.

"Ra, Zor!"

Hailey gasped, dropping her book midsentence. She scrambled to her feet, quickly realizing what was in front of her. "No, no, no, no! Get away from me!" Hailey pleaded, shooing the Zorua away from her, her blue eyes wide.

"There you are!" A young voice cried, quickly approaching Hailey and the shape-shifter. Hailey then looked up to see who it was now. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized who it was. It was Storm, the Lord's son.

She gasped. "Oh, um, erm, Prince, I am terribly sorry for shooing your Zorua away its just-"

"It's fine." He assured, clumsily picking the fox-Pokémon up.

"Please forgive me it was-"

"Relax, honest it's fine. Zorua's ok and that's all that matters." He smiled.

Hailey suddenly felt privileged to meet a child of such high authority. She began to observe him: his hair was a darker green, poufy looking like his father's, only his was neatly trimmed and cut to right around the mid section of his ears. His eyes were a sea-foam color and he wore rich fabricated clothing with polished leather shoes.

"How old are you?" He suddenly asked.

Hailey blinked in surprise. "I'm nine, how 'bout you?" She responded.

"Ten." He answered curtly.

We sat in awkward silence for a few moments.

"Who are you again?" Storm asked, struggling to hold the Zorua in his arms.

"Oh, I'm Hailey. I live right in that house across the street." She said clumsily, uncomfortable that the Prince and a Pokémon, no HIS Pokémon were so close to me.

"Would you like to pet Zorua?" Storm offered, looking at the fluffy red tuft of fur atop the Pokémon's head.

"A-are you sure? W-will I get in trouble?" Hailey asked nervously.

"I know you won't hurt him so why not? I'm just as powerful as my dad, the guards will listen to me if I say that I gave you permission to pet him." Storm assured, suddenly lifting Zorua into Hailey's arms. Hailey looked at him in surprise as she took the Pokémon into her arms.

"B-but you said I could only pet him."

Storm shrugged. "I figured that this will probably be the only time you get to interact with a Pokémon, so you should get to hold him. Isn't he soft?" He inquired, smiling as the Zorua licked her cheeks.

Hailey laughed silently, as she was afraid to laugh aloud. Her eyes shone with pleasure as she patted the dark-type's head. She sat back down, letting the Pokémon settle in her lap. Zorua fit naturally in the cusp of her lap, like a puzzle piece. "I wish I could have a Pokémon live with me… they seem so sweet." Hailey murmured, not meeting Storm's gaze.

"But you can't. What if you mistreated it? What if you decided to make it fight unnecessary battles for your own amusement? What if the Pokémon wanted to leave and you wouldn't let him?" Storm contradicted, his eyes filling with horror with the idea.

"But… you have one." She said quietly, a tear dripping from her eyes.

"It's different though." He insisted, plucking the Zorua out of Hailey's lap, much to her dismay. Hailey scrambled to her feet.

"Can you… maybe stop by tomorrow? I don't have school and I'm gonna finish all my homework in less than thirty minutes tonight…" Hailey asked sheepishly, awaiting his response.

"Maybe. Depends on what happens tomorrow morning. Now, Zorua and I must be going now, otherwise I might get sun burnt." He said, turning to leave.

"Wait! You just call him Zorua?" Hailey asked. Storm stopped and turned his head towards the suddenly talkative girl.

"Yeah… why?"

"Why doesn't he have a name? You and I have names, but not him?"

"Yeah… I guess you're right."

"You should call him Illie!" Hailey giggled, looking thoughtfully at the Pokémon.

Storm rose an eyebrow. "Illie?"

"It's short for Illusion! Last week I read a book about Zorua and it said that they are the illusion Pokémon, so why not Illie?"

"Ok, I'll think about names, but I just can't call him Illie."

"Yay!"

XXX

She had waited hours for Storm and he hadn't showed up, so Hailey decided that rather than to waste her very limited free time, she should do something worthwhile.

Her mother and father were at work at the time, so she wrote a note for them and posted it on the door, explaining that she was going to walk around the town. She smiled in satisfaction at her penmanship as she began to walk to the town's boarder: Champion's Forest. She was of course forbidden to enter, but nothing in the rules forbid her to look at it, or go next to it, so she left for the Champion's Forest.

XXX

The cooing of Pidove and the screeches from bickering Sewaddle were the only sounds in the forest that lay less than a foot away from her. Some of the Pokémon in the forest shot her awkward or confused looks, some looked irate that she was there, and others didn't seem to mind. But none seemed thrilled that Hailey was here.

Hailey continued to peer deep into the forest, straining her eyes, hungry to see more of the mossy forest.

Hailey suppressed a shriek of surprise when a Pidove landed just in front of her, looking thoughtfully at the young girl with its innocent look. "Dove?" It cooed, taking a glance at the girl before fluttering back into the forest.

Hailey gave a sigh of relief. She could breathe again.

Hailey took a glance around to see if any forest patrol guards were watching before running her hand over the smooth, moist, mossy bark of a tree trunk. It felt cool on her hands, she wanted more.

The boundary long forgotten, she stepped into the forest examining each towering tree, ignoring the shocked looks of the wild Pokémon, as they hadn't seen a human in their forest in almost twelve years. She shrugged their bewilderment off and continued deeper into the forest.

But, she wasn't looking at the ground. She let out a gasp as she tripped, falling on her knees. Hailey looked back at what had tripped her. Her eyes widened to the size of moons. "No way." She said, looking back at an object that was thought to be non-existent in Unova.

There it was, moss coated with its color drained and faded, the outer layer chipped from being left here untouched for twelve years:

Hailey had just tripped over the red and white sphere known as a poke ball.