A/N

Back at it again with another update. Real quick on this because some people seemed confused over the aura thing. He can and will be wrong on things so don't take his musings on how or why something happened as correct, or even what specifically happened. It's just what he thinks happened and what theory he can make as to why.

Hope that clears it up a bit. Another 3k chapter.

Enjoy it if you want.

I woke up to being jostled out of my lovely sleep. Groaning in protest, I opened my eyes with a squint.

"Hey! Did you get captured too? That Totodile is reaaally strong, you know. Knocked me out with a single hit even!" Growlithe said, standing uncomfortably close to my face and grinning like he won the lottery. I scooched backwards a bit before replying.

"Oh, uh, no. I managed to trick him into thinking that I was feigning being hurt and was more trouble than I was worth. I will admit though, that Totodile was pretty strong." I explain, giving Growlithe a grin. I barely knew the guy but he was a genuine sort, so I didn't mind talking to him despite the rude wake up call.

"Oh… we won't be traveling together then… Well, I'm going to be as strong as that Totodile and then even stronger! And then I'll come back and show you just how strong I've become by scaring the whole forest." Growlithe proclaimed, puffing out his chest.

That's surprisingly wholesome of him, I won't lie. Made me remember how much of a battle nut everyone in this universe seems to be. Well, pot meet kettle if I'm being honest but still.

"Ah, well that isn't going to work Growlithe. I'm going to go on a journey too, but just not as a battler. I'm going to be one of the trainers if I can." I explain, to his immense confusion.

"You… don't want to do any battles?" He inquires. He looks like I just told him up was purple and I was a devout pacifist. If I had a camera I would have actually taken a picture. He was absolutely scandalized by this.

I give him a mischievous smirk before leaning in. "Now, I never said that. I just want to do both. Turns out my species can transform into things, so imagine everyone's faces when the trainer steps into the arena to do a battle and turns into a pokemon." I hold back snickers at the thought. I'd never get a moment of peace and quiet, probably become an international celebrity, but I think it might actually be worth it to pull this off.

For his part, Growlithe just looks torn now. His face was changing between amusement and disbelief. "You're going to put that much effort into a prank and messing with people?" He asks incredulously.

"If it helps, apparently I'm a dark type pokemon." I reply, a smirk forming on my face. And with this, he suddenly looked like all was right in the world. Sitting back on his haunches, he grinned and shook his head.

"Of course you are. Why else would you make it your goal to prank the entire world at once? You certainly aren't a ghost type and they aren't driven and vindicated enough to pull that off."

Oh okay, that was some good information. Apparently dark types have a reputation for these sorts of things. Ghost types too, but more short term things.

You know, a lot of Trainers in Pokemon seem to run off of pure ideology and the team they use does as well. Does this mean I should make an ideology to live by? What would I even use as one? Friendship? Adventure? Ech, no way. The Power of Friendship and Call to Adventure leave a bad taste in my mouth.

What about my goal to prank the whole world after breaking into the League scene by force? Hmm no, I don't think that enough pokemon would resonate with that to want to join up. Well, what abo-

A sudden paw in my face rudely interrupted my thought process.

"Zorua, you did that thing again where you look really intensely at nothing and stop responding to anything I say. Are you sure you didn't hit your head too hard when you came out of your egg? If you did, let me know and I'll scare some doctors into fixing it!" Growlithe said, giving me a 'strong' look which radiated worry.

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine. Sometimes I just start thinking about things and ignore everything else around me. I'm not having any problems with my head anymore, don't worry. I just have a habit of overthinking things." I reply, brushing off his concern with ease.

I really do need to fix that habit. It's going to cause me more problems as time goes on, I'm sure of it.

"Hey, Growlithe. Nurse Joy cleared you, time to go." A voice said at the door to the room. Standing there was the Trainer. I could see him a lot better now, considering I'm actually close to him. He had on a pure green hat now, but his brown hair was still peaking out from under it. He had one a basic dark green jacket covering up his shirt and standard beige pants on.

I think he is left-handed too, since his pokeballs are on that side. So far there's only 2 there, one for Totodile and one for Growlithe.

"Oops, guess I have to go. Sorry Zorua! I'll make sure to get really strong and show you sometime soon!" Growlithe said as he bounded towards his trainer.

Okay, I'm tired of just calling him "The Trainer" or "The boy" in my mind, let's see if I can charades my way through this.

"Zorua" I say while pointing towards myself, then I point at him and force a questioning look on my face.

"You're asking if you can come with me?" The Trainer asks, surprised. I quickly shake my head and make an X.

"I'm asking for his name, help me out here Growlithe." I explain, and Growlithe nods at me.

I point to myself and say my name again. Next, pointing at Growlithe who happily sounds off with his name. Finally, I point at the Trainer again. Understanding dawns on his face, and he smirks.

"Ah, a nosy one then. Alright, fine. My name is Garrick. Now come on Growlithe, we've wasted enough time here. We need to get you trained up to help fight against Bugsy." Garrick orders, turning and walking out the door.

Growlithe quickly says his goodbyes before bounding through the door after his trainer. After the door swings shut, I let out a small sigh of relief. I like Growlithe, I really do, but people like him are exhausting for me to put up with no matter how much I like them. There was no real escape because I was still hooked up to the machine from last night and I could only move so much.

Thankfully, a few minutes later Nurse Joy walked in and unhooked me from her contraption before setting me back down on the table. She straightened up and pointed one finger at me in an accusatory way and all hope of an easy hospital release drained from me with only this one action.

"Now listen here young Zorua, I'm not sure what caused you to get into whatever made you so injured but you have to be careful going forward. You say you don't have a trainer, correct?" She asks, but it's more of a statement than anything. I slowly nod, I thought I was clear on that last night.

Nurse Joy sighs. "Well Zorua, we have a bit of a situation on our hands then. Zorua are naturally native to a few places, but primarily in Kalos. We are currently in Johto, and an entire ocean separates the two regions. A wild pokemon with no trainer that isn't native to the area or normally imported showing up injured points to either abandonment or poaching, and we need to catch whoever is responsible. Do you know or remember anything?" Nurse Joy explains, looking worried at me.

Wow, looks like me being here in the first place is much more serious than I thought then. I just kinda thought God would wave his hand and Deus Ex Machina my existence, guess not.

Focusing back on Nurse Joy, I shake my head and look around. Oh, her Chansey! I quickly hop off of the table and run up to the Chansey, pointing at her Egg and then at me. Except for the thoughtful look I thought I'd see was replaced by seriousness. She strode over to a phone, pressed a few buttons and stood there to wait. After a handful of rings someone answered and she began to animatedly talk.

While this was going on, I looked up at Chansey with an inquisitive expression on my face. She smiled down at me and patted me on the top of the head in a comforting manner. My brain immediately ground to a screeching halt and I had to resist the sudden urge to snap at Chansey as my muscles coiled. For some unknown reason, I absolutely despise being touched on the top of my head like this.

Chansey, for her part, just seemed surprised and worried about my reaction to her innocent gesture. After calming down, I shake my head a bit to clear it.

"Sorry Chansey, I just hate it when someone touches the top of my head like that. Nothing personal that you did, just don't do it in the future please." I push down my internal reaction and give Chansey a disarming smile. It seems to do the trick and she stops looking worried.

"Sorry for doing it in the first place then little one." She says with a happy smile.

Any further conversation was interrupted by Nurse Joy ending the call and grabbing out attention. "I just got off the phone with Officer Jenny. Sorry for being this serious Zorua, but recently a bunch of pokemon thieves known as Team Rocket have been making a lot of problems for everyone. Zorua and Zoroark are not ever in this area in the wild so we think it has something to do with them stealing your egg and then losing it somehow." Nurse Joy explains, crouching down to be closer to me in height.

"So, as the victim of poaching you can either be sent back home to Kalos or stay here in Johto. Do you know which one you want?" Nurse Joy asks me, patiently waiting for my answer. Well, shit. Didn't expect this. I'm not sure I really want to be involved with anything Team Rocket related. Despite what the games might portray, Giovanni is an absolute monster in a battle.

I point at the ground after a few moments, nodding my head.

Side note: It's been one goddamn day and I'm already tired of playing this game of charades with Nurse Joy. I'm going to spend my entire day trying to learn how to transform.

"Oh, you want to stay here then?" She asks, trying to confirm what I said. I nod at her and point at the ground again.

"Okay. What do you want to do if you're staying in Johto? Do you want to join a trainer and compete in the Johto League?" She inquires, putting one finger against her cheek and leaning into the hand.

I look around the room, trying to find anything spherical as a prop. There was nothing really conveniently around this time, so I settle for doing my best attempt at a shrug. Nurse Joy hummed thoughtfully and gave me a grin.

"Well you're welcome to stay at the Pokecenter for a while. Just let me or Chansey know if you need anything okay?" She offers brightly before leaving the room to return to the front desk in the reception room. I think for a moment before turning to Chansey.

"Chansey, is there a mirror I could use?" I ask the Egg Pokemon.

She nods happily before waddling off into another room. A few moments later she returns with a mirror, setting it down against the wall in the corner of the room out of the way of any equipment. It was more of a tailoring mirror, but considering I was about 2 feet tall it was a full body mirror for me. I quickly thank her before sitting down in front of it. Chansey took her leave to rejoin Nurse Joy while I was taking my appearance in.

If I was in denial about my situation this is probably where I would freak out over how "real" this was. But at this point I've already done stuff like be in a battle and use pokemon moves so I mean, any minor denial or disbelief that I had is done and buried. Not that I really had any in the first place but there is always going to be a skeptic inside of me.

Now, pokemon moves are governed by intent and energy. At least ones I know, I'm sure I can just bust out a Night Daze because I feel like it and it's a move I can learn. It probably only works like this for moves that I've "learned", but does it also work on my ability? I know my ability is Illusion since it's the only one that my species can learn, but how does this actually function? Well only one way to figure it out.

I close my eyes and focus on the energy I can feel inside of me. First, I try to focus the energy into a shell around me in the shape of a cube. Just something easy to start with I figure. I open my eyes and look into the mirror to find…

Nope, still just a shiny Zorua sitting there. Seriously though, how the hell did Garrick miss me when he was looking around? There's a giant tuft of hair on top of me crowned with fucking cyan of all things. It's a miracle he didn't spot me.

Wait.

My ability is illusion. I really didn't want to be seen. I was ignored even though I was out in the open with visible colors.

I suddenly feel really dumb. Honestly, how did I not notice that immediately afterwards?

Well, shit. Okay let's try feeling like I need to look like something. Does it work if I think of something to become, or do I need to have something in front of me to copy?

I think of my old human form, imagining just how I used to look and that I really need to look like that again. There was a tugging in my gut that told me something was happening.

I felt my hopes rise, only to be dashed against the rocks when I opened my eyes. Instead of the old body I expected to see, what I got was a kid that looked absolutely nothing like me.

Instead of my average features and facial hair, what I saw was a 11 year old boy that shared none of my features. I now had deep purple hair that screamed "anime protagonist here!" It was spiky too, and seemed generally unkempt.

My eyes were the same color as my hair, and my facial features screamed "serious" at me.

Scowling, I close my eyes and try to change it only to not feel the same tug as before. I open them to find that nothing has changed about me.

"Your favorite color is purple right? Good" Echoed through my mind as I realized what happened.

I take it back, God is not just an asshole, he is the whole jackass. I know he did this shit on purpose, and I refuse to give him the reaction he wanted.

I look myself over with an appraising eye. I know for a fact that this is an illusion but it feels so weird to say that. I'm even seeing out of the illusion's eyes and if I poke myself the illusion bends just as flesh would. I feel the pressure, the wind on my skin, everything.

Aren't Zorua's abilities supposed to be an illusion that can break once attacked? Maybe it'll continue until I take an attack that deals enough damage to break it.

Now for the best part! Ability to talk like a human and communicate.

I open my mouth to inspect it, and all the parts are there. I clear out my throat a bit and think of my first words. Well, might as well reference my time as a programmer. Time to greet the world.

"Hllw wrd" is what actually stumbled out of my mouth.

"Oo Aceus wh' is i' so 'ad" Is what stumbled out next.

Well shit, now I feel like I was cheated out of my special ability. I know for a damn fact I shouldn't be having this problem, so what gives?

My mouth just felt… uncomfortable to use with human speech. So maybe part of my natural body does carry over through the illusion? Hell, for all I know it's because the body I "copied" doesn't exist so the body doesn't have any practice.

Sighing to myself, I decided to test walking around. It took a minute to get used to bipedal locomotion again, but 20+ years of knowledge overtook the 1 day of forced practice quite easily.

My only problem was the approximate 1 foot difference between my current height and the one I'm used to. I accidentally bumped into a table or two… or five. But that was fine since nothing broke- including my illusion.

The only big problem came when Nurse Joy walked back into the room with some injured pokemon, and freaked out for a moment at the random human pacing in the back room.

One set of yelling and another set of mumbles and broken explanations later and there was no longer a problem.

I was cleared to leave whenever I wanted, but instructed that I was welcome back at any time. I thanked her for her generosity and left the pokecenter.

If I'm being honest, it felt wrong to impress upon the pokecenter like that any longer if I was already healed. Besides, I had a library to find and rules to study.

I fully expect that I will have to… bend some of them to fit my needs. Better know what the actual exact letter of the law is in case someone calls me out on it. I could always try to pull the "I sound like I know what I'm talking about so people just believe me" but that doesn't work as well if I'm arguing with people who will probably know enough to call bullshit.

One important thing I learned is… towns are much, much bigger in the actual universe than the games and even anime showcased. Azalea Town has what… 30 residents in the game? Looking around it has to be at least in the thousands. There were residential districts, shopping centers, businesses, etc.

Luckily the people here do seem to both write and speak English. Otherwise I never would have managed to find the library. Damn thing didn't even have a sign, I had to ask a kindly old man for directions.

Let me tell you, my inability to speak properly yet mixed with his old age making him hard of hearing made for quite the spectacle. It took about half an hour of conversation for for him to realize I wasn't asking after someone named "larry" or "liereyy".

But at the end of the day I made it. Well, not literally it was only about noon-

You get the idea. I walked forwards, feeling like I was about to end the prologue of my life here and really get started on a journey.

A/N Yep, he figured out how to use his ability but also found out his inability to commit identity theft with it.

If you have any questions just leave a review. If there's any mistake just let me know and I'll fix it. I wrote this chapter on a cracked phone screen so there's prolly a couple.

Next chapter will be a massive lore dump mostly, and after that things will get rolling. Speed of updates may take a bit of a hit over the next few days but I might surprise myself.

Peace

-Taldor