A/N Alright, looks like this chapter will be coming at you sooner than I thought because I am going to be pulling an all nighter so that's fun. Enjoy the massive lore dump chapter, because I'm sure glad to be able to explain how this is going to work publicly.

As for the whole 'Zorua line is from Kalos' when they debuted in Unova, the line is not naturally found in the wild in Unova. The first time the line was found in the wild was in Kalos, so that's its technical native region. Think of it like where an animal is first discovered vs where the species is actually from.

Longer update this time, almost 5k words this time. I want to get a bit of actual plot rolling on this.

Enjoy it if you want.

I walked into the library and gave a small nod to the person working the front desk. Looking around, I gave a small smile. Seems that even another universe doesn't change how a library is laid out. Wonder if this place uses the Dewey system too?

There were a handful of people sitting at a row of computers, so I went over and sat down at an open spot. I didn't need a library card, if those even exist, so there wasn't any hassle or explaining how I have no ID. And if anyone found it weird that a 11 year old kid was in a library by himself no one said anything.

I did find out one thing about my inability to change my human appearance. It only applied to my body and not my clothes, so they were changeable at will. Which means the basic T Shirt and shorts I was in were easily changeable.

What did I change them to, you might ask? Well, I always thought that the Battle Subway duo looked great but that I'd look like an asshole if I dressed like that in real life. Now that I'm in pokemon I see no reason to not dress in my own version of that outfit. Take the black outfit as a base, then instead of the brown make it the white on the other outfit.

I got rid of the coat and hat for now, since it was fairly warm out and would make me stand out way too much if I had them on. That left me with a nice pair of black dress pants, black dress shoes, a white button up shirt, and a loose purple tie that matches my hair and eyes.

I spent a few hours researching the Johto League, how the International League scene works, the rules and regulations around pokemon battling, the requirements for being an international trainer, and a certain two phone numbers.

Let's go down the list on what I found out.

First of all, the Johto League. Only region that shares a land border with another region, Kanto, and accordingly shares the Indigo Plateau with its sister region. Some historical bad blood between the two, but no wars have broken out between the 2 regions in a long while so people are hopeful that tensions will finally settle. Johto is known to have the most lax rules for how to become a trainer, with a close second in Kanto. All that is required in Johto is the following.

1: You must be able to communicate in common.

2: You must be able to legally own a pokemon.

3: You must either be of age 10 or have character witness from either a Gym Leader, Elite Four member, Champion, or Pokemon Professor saying they are capable.

4: Must be a legal citizen of a recognized nation.

And that's it. There's no technical law forbidding me from any of these. There was some problem with being able to own a pokemon, until I saw in the code that it states that a trainer's or person's pokemon is unable to own pokemon themselves. Not pokemon in general, just owned pokemon.

It might take some finagling to make it work but I can do it.

Next was what I found out about the World Pokemon League. It's something that doesn't appear in any of the things I know about from my old world, so I was instantly curious. Basically it's what governs the international rules for battling, designating trainers as International instead of Regional, sets up the World Pokemon Tournament, and other things like that.

The rules for pokemon battling is a place where things start to get a bit murky. It never explicitly states that the Trainer must be human, but also seems to imply it heavily in a lot of passages. There was one talking about how no human could enter a battle as a pokemon or be registered as one, but it implied it meant as a trainer in the explanation of the law.

A trainer cannot have any of their pokemon give orders to another pokemon on their team, but it never states that no pokemon can give orders to another pokemon. This might be because of team battles but I won't complain about that loophole.

There was enough here that a case of reasoning by interpolation could very easily be made, but since it wasn't explicitly outlined I could throw the book and get away with it so long as I never do some key things that actually are listed.

International trainer is a tough one. That is one that flat out says to apply you must be a human. I don't think I can become one the normal way, but there is an option for me. Trainers that place podium on their League are automatically made into International Trainers. And the reason I need to become one is that in order to compete in another region's League you must be an International Trainer or made into a Regional Trainer for that region.

So, going down the list, things don't look good on the surface. I can only technically speak in common (the name for the human language spoken everywhere). I can technically own a pokemon since I've never been caught by a trainer. Despite my mental age, physically I am about a day and a half old. And I am in no way a legal citizen of anywhere.

So all in all, I have about 1.5 of those 4 requirements down. So how am I going to get past that? Well, it won't be easy but I think I can do it with the help of the numbers I copied down onto a nearby sticky note. Turns out my handwriting is atrocious too, go figure.

I also found out some pertinent information during my search. First of all, they segregate trainers based on ability when it comes to Gym Battles. The levels are Standard, Advanced, then Elite. Standard is intended for new trainers, Advanced is for people who have beaten a few gyms and are where most people end up.

Elite, however, is the rank a lot of people shoot for. They compete against the Gym Leader's personal teams rather than the in-training pokemon everyone else gets to go against. You may ask why people capable of fighting toe to toe with a Gym leader's personal team are doing the Gym challenge?

Once a league season starts, you have 11 months to complete it. After those 11 months pass, all currently earned badges are invalidated as a registry into the League. The cycle then repeats. To earn entry into the League you must complete the Gym Circuit within those 11 months, it didn't matter if it was your 1st or 100th time doing it, the process was the same.

Why would they do this, you ask?

Revenue. Every single Gym Challenge is a recorded event, and the Leagues use that footage in things like highlight reels, top fails, montages, and anything else you could name. There are channels out there dedicated to broadcasting every day, and they only showed live gym battles.

It's how the Pokecenters and Gyms can keep running everywhere, they are paid to exist by the League. The Trainers are incentivised too in this set up. The more ratings they pull in and the more popular their matches are, the more kickbacks they receive from the league to fund their Gym Circuit attempt.

Most new trainers don't complete their Standard Circuit within the time frame to be admitted, taking 2 or even 3 years to actually complete it (if they ever do). They won't qualify for the League, but by then they are generally ready to do a serious attempt at the Advanced Circuit.

The Elite Circuit is an entirely different beast altogether. Every single match on that level is announced officially by the league and broadcasted live. Places without TV will have the announcer play by play on the radio. 90% of the entertainment industry is pokemon battles, and it's no wonder why. Fascinating stuff really, but not exactly surprising.

After leaving the library, I left town and went back into the woods for a little bit to practice talking and just moving my jaw around. Progress was a bit slow, and eventually I got tired. I took the sticky note out and held the corner of it in my mouth. Then I shifted back into my natural form to practice moving some more and searching for a decent place to stay. Sure, I could have just crashed at the Pokecenter but I didn't really want to stay at a hospital. I know it's not the same but that's the feeling I get from staying there.

I found a nice copse to lay down inside of and weave my illusions around to keep myself hidden behind.

Pulling over a sufficiently large stick, I set the sticky note on the ground and put the stick over it to keep it there. Then, I flop onto my side with a yawn.

And after a few minutes I was out like a light.

LINE BREAK

I spent the next few days just practicing my 'common'. It was hard and extremely annoying, my mouth not doing what I wanted. But after the practice, I only had a small lisp remaining. It was good enough for what I needed though, since if I tried hard enough it disappeared. Grabbing the sticky note from my sleeping spot for the last few nights, I set off back towards the town in Zorua form.

I never had to worry about my clothes getting dirty or crumpled by the way. Since they were an illusion or transformation, I still can't tell the difference, I could just refresh them and they were as good as new. Which was really handy considering I was living out of the woods and sleeping in the dirt.

I'm slightly sad to say that I had experience in the latter in my old life.

For walking around and traveling I made sure to do it in Zorua form. I really need to get used to that body, and if I never move around in it just because I'm more comfortable moving as a human then I'll regret it in battles.

I used the copse of trees as a small obstacle course where I had to dodge through them, which really helped my ability to move without thinking on how I'm doing it.

The only moves I know are Scratch and Leer so far, but I think I have a good basis on how they work. To activate them, they require a minimum amount of energy. From there, you can spend more to power it up but you can't spend any less otherwise it's not a move.

Once Azalea Town was within sight, I swapped back into Human form with my normal outfit on - still sans coat and hat. The one downside of switching is that it takes a few seconds of focus and afterwards it takes a tiny bit to get used to the new body.

In other words, it's not exactly combat ready. I have some fun ideas for combat utility though, I may actually get banned from using my ability in combat. If that happens I'm getting a custom shirt made. And by made I mean with my illusions.

One peaceful walk through the streets later and I was in front of the Pokecenter again. Walking through the automatic doors and into the lobby, I was greeted with a sight that I was not expecting. Like, at all.

There stood the Eternal 10 Year Old himself, Ash Ketchum, animatedly talking and gushing over a badge in his hand to Nurse Joy. By the looks of it, it was the Hive Badge from Bugsy.

For her part, Nurse Joy just seemed happy that he managed to do it. After all, she only lightly scolded Ash for overworking his pokemon before going to the back room. It seems to be a theme that she does this.

Yeah, I want exactly none of this. I quietly walk over to the corner of the room and sit in one of the chairs, throwing up an illusion to make me invisible to everyone. If I'm being honest I want none of the crazy that is this kid's life until I have a fully trained team.

He may be the Chosen One and have some serious plot armor but I'll be so screwed if I show up to fight legendaries like he does all the time. He seems to attract them to his person.

Ash thanks Nurse Joy for looking after his pokemon, then runs out of the Pokecenter. Brock and Misty aren't far behind, with the former looking amused at Ash's antics and the latter not so much.

Once they all vacated the Pokecenter, I let out a relieved sigh before dropping the illusion. Standing up and straightening my clothes on reflex, I started walking up to the front desk. Since Nurse Joy was busy healing some actually injured pokemon and I just wanted to ask if I could use that video call system they have going on, I was just going to wait at the front desk.

Then, I noticed an innocuous red device sitting on the desk I was leaning against. I immediately recognized it as a Pokedex. Specifically, the one Ash always used in the anime. Dexter, I think he called it.

"Nice try God, not doing it." I state, looking up at the ceiling with an annoyed look on my face. Then, I realized the implications of returning it to him and groaned. Much as I didn't want to associate myself and get tangled up in the chaos that is his life, Ash is an important and powerful figure due to the massive amount of worldwide connections he is already making. Chief among them, Professor Oak. I don't think anyone alive could gainsay the man if he sponsored me to become a Pokemon Trainer and declared I was fit to be so.

Sighing in resignation, I look back at the pokedex and at the sky again. "Fine, you win this round I guess." I pick up the pokedex and flick it open.

"This unit belongs to Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town. My function is to provide Ash with information and advice regarding Pokémon and their training. If lost or stolen, I cannot be replaced." The pokedex read aloud, somehow sounding accusing. Doesn't this pokedex turn sentient or something?

"Yeah yeah, that excitable kid that went running off right? I'm going to return you, any idea where he is?" I explain, turning around and walking back out of the pokecenter. I quickly illusion back on my snazzy coat and hat, have to make a good first impression after all. It'll be carrying me through my hopeful plan on getting someone to support my goal.

"This unit does not know where Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town is currently. Recommendation: If a commotion or explosion happens go in that direction." Dexter says.

"Wow, you have no faith in your owner do you?" I dryly reply, looking around the area I can see in case my life was going to be easy and they were standing around. Predictably, I had no luck. Dexter remained silent as well, not bothering to respond to that.

I walk up to some of the people milling around, and ask them if anyone had seen a kid around my age wearing a red hat and a blue jacket running around. A few negative responses were all I got from the first couple people.

"Oh, that kid? Him and two other people were going towards Kurt's place I think." A middle aged man said from a corner store, overhearing me asking someone else. He points in the general direction. I quickly thank him and start to speed walk in the offered direction.

The streets were quickly emptying since it was getting late in the day for most people. Barely felt past noon for me, but I don't exactly have a stellar example of a sleep schedule. Even calling it a schedule is doing it too much justice.

Finding myself alone, I glance around to make sure no one was just standing around to overhear me. Nodding in satisfaction, I turn to the still open Dexter.

"Say, pokedex, would you mind doing me a favor? I know you're only supposed to do this if Ash asks, but could you scan me and see what moves I know? I have no idea and don't have any way to check." I ask quietly, figuring I could shoot my shot on this.

"Humans do not know any moves." Dexter says, and I could swear I could hear confusion in the monotone voice.

"Mm, keep this a secret okay? I'm actually a Zorua so I can transform and put up illusions. If I take a human form I can also speak in common just fine." I explain, keeping a lookout for anyone showing up while continuing down the street. I like to imagine me saying this was met with dial-up noises even though Dexter was silent.

"Zorua, the Tricky Fox Pokémon. Zorua hides its true form by changing its shape into people and Pokémon, and loves to surprise people." Dexter rattles off, matching the description that Garrick's pokedex gave. Hmm, I wonder if he named his pokedex as well? I guess I can ask next time I see him.

"Yep, that's me. Can you tell me my moves? If not, just say so." I reply, turning a corner and startling a bit. In front of me was the Azalea Town Gym, and it was much larger than I thought it would be. My instincts screamed not to get anywhere near that place, but that was probably just the dark type talking.

"This Zorua knows the following moves: Scratch, Leer, Counter, Dark Pulse, and Detect." Dexter says and I feel legitimate shock. I have 3 fucking egg moves? Who the hell was my Father then? And what even is my Father? I don't know the Zorua egg move list but this feels like a lot.

Despite my suddenly dry mouth and mind racing at that particular surprise, I managed to force out a response.

"Thanks for checking, that sure was a surprise for me." I give a dry chuckle, already thinking back a few days. Did I hit the Totodile with a counter by accident in that fight? Is that why Garrick got wary and left me alone?

Luckily, I already knew where Kurt's place was from my random wandering around but not how to get there. I started to recognize the houses I was passing, which was a great sign. While my body was on autopilot at this point, my brain was racing a mile a minute on the information I just received.

A small ways back…

A trio of singed heads poked up from below the ground, looking more than worse for wear. They all shared a look before grinning.

"New Target acquired!"

"Let's bag that fox!"

"Meowth, That's Right!"

LINE BREAK

I ran into Ash and Co. at Kurt's house. And I mean that literally, Ash seemed to be doing his best Barry impression by not looking where he's going after leaving the building and slamming straight into someone as a result.

Thankfully my body is stronger than it should be since I'm actually a pokemon and Ash is made of something unknown considering the electric shocks he took regularly with no side effects. I'm fairly certain a pokedex would list the kid as a Human-Ground type if it wasn't biased. Dexter was fine too.

The only casualty was my poor illusion coat, which has dirt and dust all over it now. Don't ask, I don't know how my illusions are solid enough to affect the world around me if it relates to my human form. I'm just going to have to accept this and move on.

After a moment of shaking my head, I looked up to see Brock offering his hand to me and Misty already berating Ash for not paying attention. Wow, I forgot how much of a bitch she was in the original series. She really calmed down later, enough that I forgot completely.

I took Brock's hand and shot him a grateful grin. Little bit of non-verbal flattery never hurts after all. I made a show of dusting myself off before interrupting Misty's complaints by offering Ash my hand. Misty huffs and turns away from us, and Ash gives me a nervous grin as I pull him to his feet.

"Hey, sorry about running into you and all that." He says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. I wave off his concerns.

"I'm a lot tougher than I look, you'd have to try a lot harder than that to really hurt me. Anyways, I was just here to give this back to you. You left it at the Pokecenter and I figured I'd do a good deed to even out my bad karma." I say, motioning towards the pokedex in my other hand. His eyes light up and he takes it with a sudden sigh of relief.

Before Misty can start up again, like I can see her preparing to, I keep talking. "Make sure to be more careful with that in the future. It's a pretty neat device and it told me it can't be replaced if lost or stolen." I say with a smile on my face.

I swear, I'm already at my smile quota for my day.

"Yeah I will, Professor Oak would be upset if I lost Dexter here. Hey, what's your name?" Ash responds animatedly, pocketing his pokedex.

...shit I didn't think this far ahead. What's a good name that isn't my old one and won't cause me to stay up at night thinking of whatever dumb name I chose. Fuck, uhhh… let's go with a name that plays on my dark type. I can live with that.

"Mm, you can call me Grimm." I say, putting my hands in my pockets now that I had handed over Dexter. For a name I came up with on the spot it was pretty good, given that I've always been horrible at this sort of stuff. I felt myself relax a bit, I'm out of the danger zone I suddenly found myself in.

"How about we have a pokemon battle then Grimm? I'd love to see how strong you are!" Ash exclaims, doing that stance he always does in the anime when he gets pumped.

"Ah, sorry to say this but I'm not a trainer. Hoping to become one soon though." I explain, and Ash visibly deflates.

"Haven't you had enough battling for one day Ash? You already beat the Gym leader here that uses those nasty bugs." Misty asks, huffing.

Ash hangs his head and agrees. "Yeah, I guess so. I just wanted to see how strong Grimm was, had no idea he wasn't a trainer…" Ash mumbles.

"Hey, Ash. You said you knew Professor Oak right? Think you can put me into contact with him? I need either a Gym Leader, Elite Four member, Champion, or a Pokemon Professor to sponsor me and say I can be a trainer. I was planning on making the rounds and asking everyone possible on that list but it doesn't say it has to be a Johtonian one." I ask Ash, who just looked a bit confused.

"Why don't you just go and be a trainer?" He asks, tilting his head a bit in confusion.

I forgot that Ash essentially walked up to Professor Oak after sleeping in on accident and got a rebellious Pikachu that shocked him more than the pokemon it was battling.

"Let's just say I'm a special case and leave it at that for now." I reply, waving off the question.

Block clears his throat and steps up. "Both me and Misty here are Kantonian Gym Leaders, so we would actually qualify for that. Although, before I go handing out a sponsorship I'd like to know why exactly you need it and if you are actually capable as a Trainer." Brock says with a firm face. It's hard to tell with his eyes legitimately looking like they are always closed, but the tightening lines expressed it enough.

I sigh in response and scratch the side of my neck. I guess it wouldn't be the end of the world if they knew, but if they spread it it would get people down my neck over it. And worse, the big reveal if I ever make it into a League tournament would be ruined too. I hum and tap my foot on the ground, eventually turning and walking towards the forest.

Also, I flat out forgot that they were legally Gym Leaders even when travelling with Ash. My bad, that would have saved me a lot of trouble preparing a convoluted scheme to get Ash to introduce me to Professor Oak and then try to convince the man to sponsor me by offering my (almost) unique ability to talk to pokemon and understand them for use of fine tuning what the pokedex says.

"Alright all of you, follow me for a little bit and I'll explain it. Not for open or prying ears you see." I explain, and the trio nods and follows along. I guess it isn't that weird for them, considering that the first 2 movies have already happened I think. Not sure about the Third, it either recently happened or is about to. If it's the latter, I want nothing to do with that situation if possible.

And let me be clear, it's not due to the whole "But what if I change the world for the worse? Boohoo, woe is me" mentality that seems to be prevalent with people that have knowledge of future events. It's only because it is way more trouble than it is worth for me to get involved.

I get to walk in blissful silence for a few minutes, until I figure we got far enough away. Turning to face them, I roll my shoulders a bit.

"Now, do I have all of your promises that this will remain a secret? It's important to me that it does." I ask, face settling into its natural stony look when I stop messing around. They seem to perk up a bit and nod, even Ash getting a serious look on his face.

"Yeah, you can count on us!" Ash says, doing a determined fist pump.

I take a deep breath inwards, closing my eyes for a moment before exhaling and opening them. "Alright, truth is I'm-"

*BOOM*

My explanation was rudely interrupted by a sudden explosion that sent me ass over teakettle, careening into a nearby tree and robbing me of my illusionary coat and hat.

"Attention to all twerps! Prepare for trouble!" A familiar voice calls out from above.

Oh no. Oh-ho-ho no I am not dealing with their shit right now.

"Make it double!" The voice's pair calls out.

Fuck my life.

A/N

Yep, that's this chapter done. Hopefully you enjoyed the lore dump and explanation for some of the basics.

Like I mentioned above, pulling an all nighter so if anything is off or misspelled please do let me know and I'll fix it.

If it seems like he isn't thinking of certain things ahead of time it's because I'm not either. Then I get into the groove and the idea comes up in the heat of the moment. Primarily, this happened in the "what's your name?" question since it came up naturally in the convo but I actually hadn't even thought of a name so I randomly came up with one.

I like it though, I think it fits. Then again, I am biased since I chose it.

Peace

-Taldor