Chapter 18:

The Illusion Child

Location: Castelia City

It was my final day in Castelia City. As much as I loved it, the big city life can get a bit much. There was quite a bit more to see though, plus a request from a certain friend.

"Hiiiiii!" Bianca shouted through the Xtransciever, to the point where I thought the speakers would explode. "So, it's our final day in Unova's melting pot and, well, our last battle was outside Accumula Town! Mind if I meet you in Central Plaza for another one? We both have three Badges now, there is no excuse to say no unless you're sick in bed!"

Bianca was absolutely in the right. Last time we had a battle, we had no Badges whatsoever. We'd both gotten stronger since, so she was on!


I walked down Castelia Street, bumping into the crowd of people as I went. As someone from the dinky Nuvema Town, I was not use to this amount of claustrophobia.

I needed a break from, people honestly, so I broke away from the crown and stood on a pavement to gather my thoughts.

"How do people cope with this?" I thought. Their minds were to walk and work. No time for Pokémon or battling. I'm glad that I had this opportunity to follow my dream. If I lived here, that might not be the case.

As I was doing some deep breathing, I saw a boy with short brown hair and a yellow shirt, watching me about 10 meters away. He had a blank expression on his face; the only sign of any emotion was a very faint smile. It was somewhat unsettling.

"Do you want anything?" I asked.

"…" he replied.

I needed to break away from it. "Well, I better get going. See yah."

With that, I walked back into the crowd of people. I should have walked passed him.


Bianca was waiting for me at Central Plaza, sitting on a bench comfortably. She was swiping through her Pokédex, looking at all the Pokémon she had encountered.

"Hey!" I shouted, waving.

Bianca got up and adjusted her green beret. "Berty! Nice to see you!"

"Don't call me that!" I replied.

A crowd was starting to take place; they knew what was about to go down. In the crowd, I saw that boy again, same somewhat blank expression on his face.

"What's up?" Bianca said.

I diverted my attention back to her. I was not going to let a creepy kid ruin our fun. "Nothing. Let's just get this on!"


Hilbert Vs. Bianca

"My first Pokémon will be Herdier!" Bianca said as her brown hairy Pokémon entered.

"I choose Drilbur!" I replied. "Start with Rock Smash!" Drilbur punched Herdier in the face. Its Defense was lowered.

"Come back with Take Down!" Herdier charged into Drilbur at full force. Drilbur flew the air and into a vending machine. Drinks fell out and a bunch of children went to get the free stuff. Drilbur was fine, just about though.

"Now Dig!" Drilbur dug underground and dodged Herdier's Bite. "Attack now!" Drilbur came aboveground and attacked Herdier but didn't quite finish it.

"Use Bite!" Herdier bit down on Drilbur's claw. Drilbur fainted in its jaws.

"Good job Drilbur" I told it, recalling it. "Okay Tranquill, come out!" Tranquill flew in opposite to Herdier. "Quick Attack!" Tranquill dashed into Herdier, knocking it out.

Tranquill flew happily on the spot, awaiting Bianca's next team member.

"Munna, go!" Bianca shouted as she sent out her pink Pokémon with a floral pattern.

"Tranquill, Air Cutter!" Tranquill fired streaks at Munna for a Critical Hit.

"Munna, Psybeam!" Munna shot a colourful beam at Tranquill. Tranquill was confused.

"Try an Air Cutter!" Instead, the streaks came back and hit Tranquill.

"Munna, another Psybeam!" Munna fired another beam at Tranquill. It was almost finished.

"Last chance saloon Tranquill. Air Cutter!" This one was a thankful hit. Munna was down.

"Pansage, you're up!" Bianca said next. "Use Fury Swipes!" Pansage scratched Tranquill multiple times to the point of fainting.

"Nice one Tranquill. Pansear, go!" I yelled. Type advantage time. "Yawn, go!" Pansear yawned, which caused Pansage to do the same.

"Use Leech Seed!" Pansage fired a small seed at Pansear. It would have health drained each turn.

"Incinerate!" Pansear fired a flame at Pansage. It almost knocked it out.

"Use Lick!" Pansage went up to Pansear and licked it. This caused Pansear to become paralyzed. Not what I needed, but at least Pansage fell asleep due to Yawn. I took the opportunity.

"Pansear, Incinerate once more!" This flame sizzled Pansage to its fainting point.

"Time for my final friend. Go Pignite!" Bianca yelled, sending out an orange Pokémon with what looked like black overalls as the pattern on its body.


Pignite (チャオブー)

005

Fire/Fighting Type

Fire Pig Pokémon

3'03" (1 m)

122.4 lbs (55.5 kg)

Whatever it eats becomes fuel for the flame in its stomach. When it is angered, the intensity of its flame increases.

Tepig -Lv 17- Pignite


"Alright! Tepig evolved!" I said clapping and recalling Pansear. "Congrats! But let's see how it fares against Dewott!" My first Pokémon entered the ring. It was partner vs. partner. "Use Razor Shell!" Dewott slashed Pignite with its scalchops, almost taking it out.

"Pignite, Flame Charge!" Pignite surrounded itself in flames. Then, it charged into Dewott for non effective damage. Why did Bianca do that? "Now use Arm Thrust!" Pignite, suddenly faster, punched Dewott open armed 3 times. Of course, Flame Charge increased speed.

"Water Gun!" With Pignite still in close range, Dewott squirted water in Pignite's face. That put out its flame.


The crowd cheered.

"Yeah, go you two!" someone shouted.

Me and Bianca laughed, then shook hands.

"Thanks!" Bianca said. "Not just for this battle, but for helping me get this far!"


The crowd soon dissipated, and the two of us talked about Nimbasa City on the bench by the fountain.

"It's just a straight walk" I said. "Problem is that it's across Route 4, which is a desert. But it's still a quick route. It'd be quicker if the construction was finished though. Building an estate on a desert must be hard."

As we scanned the rest of Castelia City's skyscrapers, I spotted the boy from before. He was the only one who didn't go separate ways with the crowd, and he was still staring.

"What's up with him?" Bianca asked.

I wanted to know as much as her. "Okay kid, you clearly want something. What is it?"

The kid continued to be mute.

"Well, is it a battle?" Bianca had already healed up my Pokémon at that spot, so I was more than down for another one.

For the first time, I saw actual emotion on the boy's face. He now had an excited grin and was nodding his head wildly.

"I think that's a yes!" Bianca said.

Suddenly, the boy seemed to shift into something. It turned into something small, black and furry Pokémon with red around its eyes. It had a short, black bushy tail.

"What?!" Bianca said. "I've heard of a Pokémon that can transform into others, but not like this."


Zorua (ゾロア)

076

Dark Type

Tricky Fox Pokémon

2'04" (0.7 m)

27.6 lbs (12.5 kg)

It changes into the forms of others to surprise them. Apparently, it often transforms into a silent child.


"What an interesting Ability. Well okay Zorua, I'll battle you!"

I sent out Dewott. I was going up against a Lv 10 Pokémon, so I knew what I was doing.

"Fury Cutter!" Dewott swiped Zorua once, taking away a large chunk of its HP. Zorua came back with Scratch. "Okay, go Great Ball!"

Ah yes, since I now have more Badges, I have access to better Pokéballs. In this case, I brought Great Balls, stronger than normal Pokéballs.

The Great Ball shook as Zorua went inside.

"Will it behave?" Bianca asked, as tense as I was.

It stayed closed!

"Alright!" Bianca said. "You got yourself a new friend!"

I sent out Zorua who smiled.

"Welcome to the team Zorua."

However, slowly, I saw a frown wipe over the Dark Type's face.

Something was up, and we were determined to find out what.


Location: Castelia City Pokémon Center

"Okay Zorua, tell us what's wrong." We had brought Zorua to one of the Pokémon Center hotel rooms so that people don't see it. It might confuse them if Zorua suddenly transforms.

"Okay Zorua, why are you sad?"

Zorua tried to talk, but it was barking rather than talking.

"Most Pokémon can't talk" Bianca said. "Hmm. That's it! Zorua, try some of your transformations!"

Zorua transformed into a large black Pokémon with long red hair.

"Is that its evolved form?" I asked. We didn't know its name, and the Pokédex couldn't recognize it because it was just an illusion.

"Maybe it wants to evolve" Bianca said.

"Is that it?" I asked Zorua. "You know, my Dewott wants to evolve into a Samurott. I can help you achieve that dream."

Instead of responding though, Zorua changed back into it's Zorua form, lay on the floor and went to sleep.

"What now?" Bianca asked. We couldn't ask Zorua when it was sleeping.

Or could we?

"Bianca, how about the Dream Mist? Send out Munna!"

Bianca knew where I was going. "Come on out Munna!" Munna started eating the dream (note that Munna was not using the move Dream Eater, this is a biological ability of Munna's). Then, a pink mist emanated from its forehead and the dream started playing. I got out my C-Gear (which has a camera installed) and started video recording the dream.


Zorua was in a forest, where it was playing with the presumed evolved form that Zorua transformed into. It was being comforted by that Pokémon.

"Is that… its mother?" Bianca asked me.

Just then, a man came into view. He was in a sage outfit, brown covered and had a white beard, not like Santa Claus, much shorter. He had the Plasma logo on his outfit.

"It must be them" I said.

"Keep watching" Bianca said. "And try not to talk, it'll interrupt the dream footage in the video."

Instead of being stolen, Zorua played with the Sage. The Sage laughed as Zorua climbed all over him.

Then, the image cut to Zorua in a cage. The sounds of a truck could be heard as Zorua was driven away, the Sage running after it.

"Stop! No! Release Zorua this instant!" the Sage yelled.

Another cut to black and Zorua was now being looked at by two thugs. One was lanky a short, the other big and fat.

"Well, a Zorua. These fetch a lot on the black market" the fat one said.

"Yeah. Okay Zorua, come out."

The cage was opened, and Zorua hopped out, running away into the city. That's where the dream ended.


"Zorua was taken away from its mother" I said. "They can't have been Team Plasma, even if that Sage was there."

Bianca wiped a tear from her eye. "Hilbert, you should return it. I know it's yours now, but Zorua misses it's home so dearly."

I nodded. As much as I loved the idea of taking Zorua with me on my journey (especially with its Illusion Ability), Bianca was right. Its mother was probably worrying her butt off thinking about Zorua.

"Well, now we know what and who, let's find out the where." I looked over the footage on my C-Gear. "Is this Pinwheel Forest? If it is, then I'm not sure where. I don't know it very well."

Bianca clicked her fingers. "But we know who does!"


Location: Castelia City Gym

Me and Bianca made our way through the honey walls once again and got to the Battlefield, where we saw Cheren and his Pidove having just beaten Burgh's Leavanny. He was being awarded the Insect Badge for defeating Burgh and was given the speech about the TM and Trading.

"Congrats Cheren!" we tried to say, but we were both out of breath.

"What's up with you two?" Cheren asked. "You look as though you've run a marathon."

"Burgh" I said, loading up the video on my C-Gear. "Please identify where this is."

As I played the video to him, Bianca explained to Cheren the situation.

"I see" he said. "What a fascinating Pokémon. Even I can't ramble on about it."

After the footage ended, Burgh explained everything to me. "That's not Pinwheel Forest. That's Lostlorn Forest, just east of Nimbasa City. A lot of strange whack happens in there, so it makes sense that Zorua calls that place it's home. Please be careful."

"Well, we can always head there sometime in our time at Nimbasa" I told Bianca. "For now, let's get some rest. It's a big day tomorrow!"


Weird, weird day today. I caught a Pokémon, but this wasn't a permanent team member; I was leaving Zorua in the PC. It's a weird one, capable of making illusions that could fool anyone. It also seems I might have to get involved with Team Plasma again, though not stopping them per say. Otherwise, this ends my time in Castelia City. Tomorrow would be the short desert trek through Route 4 (which takes about 3 hours to get through so detours are allowed) to reach the sight of our next Gym battle!