AN: I figured I'd get this chapter in first before the Striaton Gym began to take hold in the plot. This is more or less filler, but its development for Ash and co. regardless. However, filler as this and the next chapter will be, this dual chapter subplot does introduce somebody important, who in the games, wasn't so important in comparison.

Truth and Ideals Chapter 6:


As morning arrived, Ash set up a small cooking set up for him to work with, working on a batch of pancakes as his Pidove was sitting on his shoulder, watching his every move. She seemed a little curious, to say the least.

"Don't worry, Pidove, I'm making food for all of us." Ash told her, as Ash chuckled a little, as Pidove chirped a little and moved to fly off of his shoulder and land on the ground.

Cheren and Bianca, meanwhile, were still fast asleep in the tent; the only tent they had, at that.

Bianca was slowly beginning to stir, as she felt in an extremely comfortable state of relaxation…

… As she noticed Cheren's arms were wrapped around her, with Cheren still fast asleep.

'U-Um… this is weird… I'm not really complaining, b-but…' Bianca began to think for a moment, 'still, though…' She slowly moved to look at Cheren's face when her eyes were opening up more as her vision cleared up.

'He's… so calm… I haven't seen him like this in years…' Bianca thought to herself, a few, small tears forming in her eyes, before she moved to lay her head against Cheren's chest, being careful not to move too suddenly. She knew Cheren was shy when it was just the two of them together, so she wanted to enjoy this small moment while it lasted, which made her recall from the night before as to how this happened…

All she could remember outright was that she was beginning to get cold; the tent that she shared with the boys had a wall in the center of it to give her privacy when necessary, so she was sleeping by herself with Ash and Cheren on the same side of the tent as each other.

However, tonight ended up being a colder night than usual, as Bianca was used to how warm her bedroom was in Autumn, especially on the colder nights. She could recall how warm and comfortable her own bed was, but now camping out in the middle of Route 2 made her quite uneasy. It wasn't just cold, but it was unfamiliar for her.

She felt she had to do something about this, so she unzipped part of the wall in the middle of the tent to look at Cheren's sleeping form. Oddly enough, Ash wasn't here, as she heard some occasional talking outside of the tent, meaning Ash was probably training his Oshawott or Pidove.

Looking down at Cheren, she moved to carefully budge him awake.

"H-Hey… C-Cheren…? Could you please wake up?" Bianca asked in a whisper, as Cheren slowly began to stir with his eyes opening up to look at Bianca.

"Is this important…?" Cheren asked, as he looked and noticed how pale Bianca's hand was, and this caused him to suddenly sit up straight to look at her carefully.

"Bianca! You're practically freezing! Hold on a sec, can you get Tepig's Poké Ball for a moment?" Cheren asked, as he moved to grab Snivy's Poké Ball, letting Snivy out of her Poké Ball on Bianca's side of the tent, as Snivy looked around and blinked. Bianca, getting the clue, grabbed Tepig's Poké Ball and let him out right next to Snivy, with Tepig looking around and blinking due to how late it was.

"Hey, Snivy… Could you please get Tepig to help us out?" Cheren asked Snivy, as Snivy hissed affectionately, prompting Cheren to move to grab something from his own backpack, as Cheren handed Snivy a Poké Puff to encourage her to listen, as Snivy quickly ate up the treat and moved a bit closer to Tepig, causing Tepig, from the sudden movement Snivy made towards him, to generate a field of heat around himself, that quickly warmed up the tent as a whole.

"Alright, thank you, Tepig. You can return to your Poké Ball, now." Bianca spoke, as she returned Tepig to his Poké Ball, as Cheren did the same with Snivy.

"Will you be alright?" Cheren asked Bianca, as she smiled a little nervously.

"I… um…" Bianca tried to say something, but didn't know how to put it. "I'm sorry for slapping you yesterday, but if I can ask something… er…"

"Could you please sleep beside me for tonight, please?"

Waking up from her current thoughts, Bianca looked at Cheren, who's peaceful sleep showcased that for as awkward as he can be at times, he wasn't fully above at least showing concern for her, causing her to smile sweetly, as continued to rest her head against his chest.

Ash, meanwhile, was finished preparing breakfast by this point, and went to the tent to get Cheren and Bianca. Not having returned to the tent from last night's training, he walked into the tent to look at the fact the boy's side of the tent was unoccupied to his surprise, as he carefully unzipped the middle section of the wall between his and Cheren's side of the tent, to look at Cheren and Bianca cuddling together.

"Hey, guys, breakfast is ready if you both are hungry." Ash spoke to them, as Cheren quickly began to stir awake and opened his eyes to realize his current condition of snuggling Bianca. Surprised, Cheren shot up where he was laying down and backed away a bit, his face practically red the whole time.

"Y-Yeah, I'll join for breakfast…" Cheren said, as Bianca moved to sit up as well.

"So will I."

Several minutes later…

After Ash, Cheren, and Bianca finished breakfast, Cheren was helping Ash clean up their campsite as Bianca was training some of her Pokémon with the help of Cheren's Purrloin and Patrat, with both of said Pokémon thankfully being much more obedient than his Snivy.

"So, Ash, why aren't you training with Bianca?" Cheren asked, as Ash sighed.

"Well we do have to clean up our campsite, and considering both of us are the heavy lifters of the group it was only natural. Besides, you looked like you needed some distance from Bianca for a moment." Ash told Cheren, as Cheren's face got a little red as he helped Ash finish packing up the tent.

"Um, well, s-she sort of asked me to sleep next to her last night when she was getting cold…" Cheren admitted, as Ash blinked.

"… And?" Ash asked, as Cheren pushed his glasses up a bit, although not in an annoyed way.

"She, well, began to get a little uncomfortable sleeping last night… She told me she wasn't used to sleeping in a place like this, or the fact that unless we happened to crash in a Pokémon Center due to timing during our journey across Unova, well… she's going to be like this for at least a few days." Cheren told Ash the rest of what she talked with him about last night, as Ash nodded.

"Well, as much as I would personally be willing to help her calm down, she seems to trust you quite a lot." Ash told Cheren.

"… Though you're the one she's closest to, and yet I'm the guy among us who freaks out with being alone with her." Cheren admitted, as he sighed. "I just want to stop feeling so timid around her at times like this, since she really seemed to see something in me that she doesn't see in you…" Cheren told Ash, as Ash chuckled a bit.

"To tell you the truth, Cheren, she used to actually have a crush on me once a few years back, but she stopped when I told her that you deserved her more than I did. At the time, I… just really wasn't ready for somebody to be that close with me, and you were the one with the self-confidence issues at the time and-"

"Okay, Ash, if we're to continue getting along on this trip, let's not bring up the past in such a way about me. I admit it, yes, I was like that, but I don't want to be reminded of it." Cheren spoke, as Ash's Pidove landed on Cheren's head, curiously tilting her head down to look at Cheren's face.

"Plus… your Pidove is kind of getting on my nerves." Cheren admitted, as Ash sighed, prompting him to hold his right arm outward, as this caught Pidove's attention as she flew off of Cheren's head and landed on Ash's wrist, and gave Ash a bit of an idea.

"Hey, how's about we join Bianca in training now that we're finished wrapping things up here?" Ash asked, with him and Cheren having finished with packing everything up into their respective bags, as Ash called out Oshawott from his Poké Ball.

Oshawott, silently squeaking, key word being silently, looked up at Ash, as Cheren also called out Snivy from her Poké Ball.

"Alright, let's go."

At the clearing along Route 2, Ash, Bianca, and Cheren were all practicing having their Pokémon learn new moves with several wooden targets set up, with a solid rock being used as the target for Ash's Pidove.

"Pidove! Let's try it again, Steel Wing!" Ash called, as Pidove flew up into the air, her wings partially beginning to glow in a metallic fashion, as she dived down towards the targets from the air. As she did, though, her wings reverted back to normal, which she quickly noticed as she flew upwards to avoid crashing like she did earlier. Ash, sighing, looked up at Pidove.

"Pidove, listen, you can't be scared like that! I know it's a much tougher target than what the others are using, but you have to be brave on this one!" Ash told her, as Pidove flew down towards Ash with a look of uncertainty, as Pidove's left wing was still bandaged up from before, as Ash held out his right arm again for Pidove to perch there again, looking towards her when she landed on his wrist.

"Look, Pidove, I'm no expert on what caused your injury like this, but you're flying a lot better from what I had first found you at Route 1." Ash told her, as he gently laid a finger against Pidove's left wing, to see if she was still hurting from it; no reaction, which prompted Ash to remove the bandaging on it, as Ash gave Pidove a careful nod after hearing her chirp a little bit.

Flying up into the air again, Pidove braced herself to prepare for another test at learning Steel Wing.

"Alright, one last time, and I'll have you rest. Once more! Steel Wing!" Ash called, as Pidove dived down towards the medium sized rock used as her target, her wings glowing an intense, metallic shine, this time not letting loose, as she dove at the rock and caused the rock to shatter upon impact from successfully using Steel Wing.

"Alright! Way to go Pid-" As Ash was in the middle of congratulating her, though, Pidove began to glow with a powerful energy, as Pidove's entire body was encased in light; her wings stretching in size, her tail feathers becoming longer and more noticeable, her head becoming more thickly covered in feathers, and when the glow faded, her body becoming a very bright shade of green compared to the shinier shade of bluish gray her original coloration was.

"… Pidove?" Ash asked, as he pulled out his Pokédex to scan "Pidove".

"Tranquill, the Wild Pigeon Pokémon and the Evolved Form of Pidove. Many people believe that, deep in the forest where Tranquill live, there is a peaceful place where there is no war." The Pokédex spoke, as Ash gazed at Tranquill with a bit of awe.

"Wow…" Cheren suddenly spoke up as he, Purrloin and Patrat, in addition to Bianca and her Lillipup, looked over towards Ash's newly evolved Tranquill, as Tranquill moved to flew onto Ash's right arm again, happily chirping from having regained some of her confidence, as Ash was able to hold up Tranquill on his arm still, even though the Pokédex had told Ash that Tranquill weighed around 33.1 pounds.

"Nice job, Ash!" Bianca cheered, as Cheren nodded.

"So, this is Pidove's first evolution, then? Seems a bit unfair to battle one of you guys in that case. I mean, Cheren may have three Pokémon now, but I have one that's evolved at least once and thus would be at least stronger than at least two unevolved Pokémon, if not more." Ash said, feeding Tranquill a quick treat in the form of a Poké Puff as Tranquill chirped affectionately, while Cheren's Patrat squeaked a bit in approval to what Ash had to say, with Purrloin's meow being more of a neutral statement. Lillipup, though, actually seemed to bark confidently about challenging Ash's Tranquill.

"Oh, is that so, you youngsters?"

Ash, Cheren, and Bianca were startled all of a sudden as they looked around, and eventually saw a rather, tall, lanky man standing atop a tree branch, lacking a shirt, wearing bagging, black and red pants, and wearing a white mask shaped after a Pokémon's head, with odd markings on it giving the feel up fancy make-up, and having a lengthy bundle of red and black hair.

"And… you are…?" Ash asked, as the mysterious, oddly costumed man didn't look neither him, nor Cheren or Bianca, but directly towards Lillipup, Purrloin, and Patrat.

"Hold on a sec, your trainers are confused. Allow me to show myself for a moment." The man spoke, as he grasped his hands together, his pointer fingers laid against each other, as the man suddenly transformed into a different shape entirely in a puff of black and red smoke, with the form seen after the smoke faded being an equally black and red colored Pokémon, with many of the features the human form had having carried over into this form.

Bianca, taking the time to grab her Pokédex, as Cheren and Ash did the same, scans the odd, shapeshifting Pokémon to try and figure out what Pokémon it was.

"Zoroark, the Illusion Fox Pokémon and the Final Form of Zorua. Each has the ability to fool a large group of people simultaneously. They protect their lair with illusory scenery." After their Pokédex finished detailing on the mysterious Pokémon, they could hear him chuckle in a more deeper, canine-like voice before he suddenly shapeshifted back into his human guise, this time his red and black hair as a human changing into a set of blond hair, and the originally black, baggy pants changing to a silky white with gold trims to them. The chuckling the Zoroark made, continuing as he transformed, maintained a deep sound, yet sounded far more like a human.

"So, I take it you're all surprised by my presence here, yes? Go on, try throwing a Poké Ball at me, I insist! Then I'll get back to answering questions." Zoroark spoke, as Bianca looked towards Cheren and Ash to indicate she'll pass, as Ash and Cheren quickly did a match of Rock/Paper/Scissors, with Cheren winning and Cheren grabbing a Poké Ball from his pouch.

"Alright, this has to be a trick. But I'll give it a shot…" Cheren said, as he clicked the button on the Poké Ball to have it expand to full size.

"Poké Ball, go!" He called, as he tossed the Poké Ball at Zoroark, as Zoroark was forced back into his true form upon impact, and the black and red smoke being absorbed along with him into the Poké Ball's center as it closed around him… only for the Poké Ball to suddenly glow red with a buzz sound and open back up and release Zoroark from confinement.

"So, you already have a trainer?" Cheren asked, as Zoroark shrugged.

"Sort of. I'm in a bit of self-exile at the moment due to… reasons. All I am allowed to say to you three without blowing my cover is that this won't be the last time we meet… Especially you, young Oshawott. Either way, he probably already knows I'm here. I am the one who taught him many of my languages I know." Zoroark gave away, as Ash actually caught onto the hint, all the while Oshawott's normally stoic expression changed to a slightly confused one.

"So, wait, you're saying you belong to that N guy?" Ash asked, as Zoroark chuckled and nodded.

"Why, yes. Yes I am. That's just part of the reason he can understand me as a Pokémon, though." Zoroark confessed, as Cheren raised an eyebrow.

"Then how are you are able to speak English?" Cheren and Bianca both asked at once, as Zoroark remained silent.

"I've learned it over the last century's time. I'm rather experienced with how you humans work, and all; I just only wish my trainer saw more eye to eye with me in that regard." Zoroark admitted, as Ash, Cheren, and Bianca, knowing full well that Zoroark was trying to hide for real given the fact had N truly wanted to, when he had challenged Ash to a battle back in Accumula Town, N could've easily used Zoroark in the battle at any time.

"Still, though, it's actually amazing a Pokémon can actually talk and such, especially one like yourself." Bianca said, as suddenly something Zoroark had said earlier had caught her attention again. "By the way, what did you mean by when you were talking to our Pokémon for a moment after Ash had brought up his Tranquill?" Bianca asked, as Lillipup barked towards Zoroark, who nodded in understanding, whereas Patrat and Purrloin's reactions means their comments didn't change.

"The guy in the glass's Patrat understands that he's not a match for Tranquill, Purrloin is vain and neutral about the idea, and Lillipup is just asking for a fight in general. If he still so believes he wants to put up a fight, I'll strike a deal; tell nobody I was here, and then…" Zoroark spoke, before suddenly transforming again in a puff of red and black smoke, before taking on the exact same appearance of Ash's Tranquill.

"… I'll give him that fight on my own."

To be continued...


AN: Okay so admittedly having N's Zoroark appear this early into the story was done to prevent Zoroark from having shown up out of nowhere much later on in the story, and it would also give Bianca's Lillipup some of his own development as a result. Also, I just had a desire to get out of my Artist's Block by drawing human form Zoroark prior to uploading this chapter, and decided to make N's Zoroark into a major character as a result.

With that aside, this and the next chapter will probably be the last Chapter I upload until the weekend; tomorrow is the beginning of my job assessment.