Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Pokémon. The only thing I do own is the story idea.

"Talk"

'Think'

"Telepathy"

AN: Thank you for all the reviews/follows'/favorites…etc, they really made my day! Also, to the guest (you didn't sign in, so this is pretty much the only way I can answer your question), yes, the Zoroark in the story is the one from the 13th movie.

Chapter 2

It had been a week and a half since Harry had taken the potion and already he was frustrated with his lack of progress. That's not to say that he had none at all, but it was simply taking longer than he thought possible to turn into such a small animal. Speaking of said animagus animal, he had looked through all his school books and had even stolen a few books from Dudley, but found nothing mentioning a small fox that looked like he did. More than that, he was sure his form was magical in some way, as ever since he had changed that one time, he'd felt…different. Of course, that could just be the meshing of instincts brought on by the initial transformation.

The book did say that the longer you practiced, or stayed in such a form, the more traits would pass through. All he did know was he felt a bit more mischievous and sneaky…and it was going to get him in trouble if Vernon ever realized that he was the one that had smeared chocolate spread all over the couch, just before he had sat on it in his new expensive suit. A lot of trouble really. In fact, he'd probably end up dead, or beaten to a bloody pulp, killer godfather or no.

Chuckling to himself, he shook himself out of his thoughts and stared at his bare arms. He had been trying for, well, a week and a half now, and he still only managed a slight tingling in his arms and for red fur to sprout from his forearm down. Sighing, he let the magic dissipate, watching as his arm turned to normal. Flexing his fingers, he smiled, "Well, that was a bit better. Definitely felt something in my fingers that time. Just gotta keep it up," he mused as he shifted from his bed and moved to the window.

The sky outside was dark, lit up only by a mere spattering of stars. The soft rustle of the trees, the feel of the wind, calmed him and with a grunt, he settled on the edge of the window and pulled out a small journal. He had kept it to keep track of the small changes that had happened to him since he had taken the potion.

'Let's see," He thought to himself as he chewed the end of a pencil contemplatively, 'We got mischievousness, the snickering. Can't keep the window closed very often now., makes me twitchy. Hedwig grooms me even more, if that's even possible. I think that's it…Oh! Bed's a veritable nest and still uncomfortable as ever,' he mused silently as he checked down the list of changes and wrote down a few new ones, before glancing up at Hedwig's empty cage. He had sent a letter to Sirius a few days ago, nothing serious written on it as he wanted to keep his animagus training a secret, but the late response was a bit worrying.

"Ah, whatever. He probably went somewhere farther south. He deserves to, after Azkaban," Harry sighed as he chucked his notebook onto his desk and stretched, before standing and making his way to his bed. "I'll practice more tomorrow. I'm way too tired to try again now." Moving into the nest of blankets and pillows, curling up and underneath so that not even a smidgen of his body could be seen, Harry allowed himself to drift off. Tomorrow would be filled with more chores, a severe lack of food (thank goodness for Mrs. Weasley or he'd have starved to death already), and more practice. He was strangely looking forward to it.

She had been running for days now, across snow and mountainous landscapes. Trees and various, strange, animals blurred past her as she ran, following the trail that, for the most part, existed more in her head than was an actual trail. More than once she'd think she had imagined the energy pulse; that she had gone senile from her long slumber, but every time she was about to pause, to stop, the pulse was sent out again, a little weaker than the original one, but there all the same.

The energy was sporadic too, in the pulses. Zoroark could go hours before another pulse would rush over her form, and yet, a day later the pulse would come every ten minutes, varying in strength. Each time the energy spurred her on even as her limbs protested and shook with weariness.

However, seven suns had passed and her body felt numb and heavy. Her vision had tunneled and gone gray and she was gasping for air. Against her will, her body slumped to the ground, her eyes closing as she focused on breathing. Her body protested even that, aching deep down to the bones, demanding food, water and a proper amount of rest. All the energy she had stored while sleeping had been spent, more than what she had had been spent, and her body was giving up on her. On shaking limbs, Zoroark pushed herself up and trudged, refusing to rest until she at least found a safe place to sleep.

It took another hour, and a bit of scraping on her part, but a small cave no more than two feet in depth, provided her ample enough shelter. Her illusions would cloak it well from any other animals, or people, from getting into it. Moaning softly with pain, Zoroark laid on the ground, curled gently underneath her warm mane. "I am sorry, little Zorua. I must rest, but be assured, I will find you soon. You won't be alone anymore," she said gently as her eyes closed, rest coming easily to her weary form.

Days passed in quick succession, each one filled with his new daily regime. Harry would wake and move downstairs to make breakfast for his darling relatives and be allowed a very meager portion of it. With Dudley on a diet due to weighing roughly the size of a killer whale, the only thing that kept the boy appeased was that he got more than Harry did, and sometimes even Vernon. Petunia, as always, ate like a bird, pecking and shredding her food to ribbons before eating any of it.

After making breakfast, he was shoved outside to garden or made to clean the already spotless house. If he gardened, he'd be allowed a shower so that wasn't so bad, but if it was just cleaning the house, he'd be back upstairs, hidden in his room, until dinner or when he was next needed. Still, thanks to Sirius, this summer wasn't so bad. He still got food, his chores were dramatically lessened and he got plenty of time to himself. Harry didn't even mind the chores, as they gave him something to do while his mind wandered over his animagus form.

By now, the fur was sprouting easily and he felt a tingling sensation in his spine. His fingers were shrinking, which was an odd feeling on its own, into paws. While it was slow going, he was making progress; just…he wished it would be going a bit quicker than it was. "Ah well, at least the book said that this is actually pretty fast. Most take almost six months to practice and fully transform, let alone show any traits after the potion is consumed," Harry sighed as he wiggled the digits of his paws, smiling as the claws reflected the half-light of his room.

Other than his inability to be patient, there was another reason Harry was so keen to transform quickly and it had nothing, well…almost nothing, to do with showing his godfather up. That morning the postman had delivered a letter completely coated in stamps from the Weasley's. Mrs. Weasley was asking him over, through his guardians, to come and see the Quidditch World Cup and he was graciously being allowed to go. Harry only had to subtly, and subtly he meant slam a mental sledgehammer through Vernon's brain, that his 'serial killer' godfather would be oh-so disappointed if he couldn't, to be allowed to leave for the rest of the summer.

So he was allowed to go and sent back a quick reply through Pig, Ron's strangely named owl that he'd gotten the end of last term. Hedwig, who had returned two days earlier, was now off and delivering a letter to Sirius about what was going on and probably wouldn't return for awhile. She'd be fine though, he trusted her to take care of herself. Harry was quite happy to go; Quidditch was probably his favorite pastime! Though, admittedly, it was his only pastime, but minor details.

At any rate, his time to practice had been radically diminished and he only had three more days to make any sort of sudden shifts, as when he left for the Weasley's his time to practice would dwindle down to zero. He'd be too busy hanging out with Ron and Hermione, not to mention all the other red-heads that made up the clan and he was still quite firm in his idea to keep this to himself until he could change quickly and easily. That, or…well, never tell them, or not for awhile. He wasn't sure why, but something inside of him was whispering to keep this, his animagus training, a secret. That it would be a good thing to have an ace up his sleeve.

'I'd tell Sirius though. He'd be proud to know his 'pup' managed to do it on his own.' Harry thought with a smile as he shook out his arms, watching as fur receded to slightly tanned skin.

Breathing deeply, Harry once more focused on pulling his magic up, to shift and change. He thought of fur and claws, of mischief and snickering, of the safety of a warm nest, all the things he was sure his animagus thought fondly of. Still, while fur erupted along his form, his spine tingled and his hands turned into paws, it was like he hit a dead end. He could feel the magic curling inside of him, but it was like he was missing a piece of the puzzle. Harry knew what he was to look like, knew over the course of several days what his form probably thought of best, but it was like…one thing was missing. If he could figure it out it would work, he just knew it! Growling in frustration, Harry shifted the minute changes back, blinking at his skin, at his arms, before sighing and allowing himself to fall flat on his best.

The bundle of blankets flattened beneath his form and he shifted, burrowing his face into his pillow as he let his thoughts wander. 'I can do it, I know I can, but I just…I can't, I'm missing something,' he thought as he sighed once more and curled against the blankets, his face nuzzling into the pillow as his body relaxed. 'Maybe I should write another letter to Sirius when Hedwig gets back, if I haven't changed by then. He's gone through this, he probably knows what I'm missing, but…I still want to try and do it on my own! I can do this. I'm strong enough!' A stubborn look crossed over Harry's face, before he turned and buried himself underneath the hodgepodge of blankets.

Beneath the blankets, Harry's body relaxed in slow increments, his breathing evening out as he fell into slumber. As he slept, his nose wrinkled in mild distress, soft little whines emitting from his lips as he moved fitfully, before he calmed once more. Sleeping, Harry dreamed of tall trees and thick grass tussled by gentle winds. He dreamed of strange animals and food, of running and playing and of a place that felt like home; a small cave and a sleep where he was surrounded by the softest red fur and the gentle humming of a song right next to his ear.

In his dream, Harry felt his body give a soft, content sigh as he nuzzled into the fur, jaws opening softly to yawn before closing once more in sleep. 'Ma…'

Unknown to Harry, while he was sleeping he sent out just one more energy pulse, the only one he was able to do when not practicing his animagus transformation. Held inside of it was a small message, just one word that would spur on the Pokémon so desperate to find him. "Mother."

After sleeping for two days straight, then eating enough food to make a snorlax jealous, Zoroark vowed to never ignore her body like that again. What good would it do to run for so long, for days on end, only to collapse into a puddle of rubbery legs near the end of her journey? No, she needed to keep her strength up and rest on occasion, at least every few days, in case the little Zorua pulsing out his energy was in danger or hurt.

Sighing, Zoroark bit into the apple, chewing the pulp of the fruit with teeth more aptly designed for shredding meat, though fruit was okay as well. She was omnivorous after all. It wasn't like she didn't want to hunt though, she just didn't have time to hunt properly and she was a bit leery of eating anything moving anyway. She finished off the apple and licked her claws clean of the sticky juice. It was when she was just about to head off again, that the pulse hit her.

Closing her eyes, Zoroark listened and felt the energy, letting it wrap around her even as it moved on. It felt…lonely, sad and almost wistful, wanting even. So wrapped up in the emotions, she almost missed the embedded message, 'Mother' it whispered to her softly, curling around her mind, evoking thoughts of her son, now dead like most Pokémon were in this world. She cried out, her voice echoing in a mournful howl, before falling silent and wiping away at the tears that now dripped from her eyes.

"I am so close my little Zorua, I promise, you won't be alone anymore. We'll be together, just hang on a little longer. I will find you, I will keep you safe," she replied as she took off at a run. All thoughts of pacing herself fled from her mind, not when she realized how close she was. That energy pulse had been strong, stronger than the others before it, and following it back showed her she was a little more than halfway there. A few days, maybe another week and she'd have that Zorua safely ensconced in her arms, tucked away from the world and safe.

To her left, the trees fled away, showing coastline and arcing waves filled with the color of the moon and stars. She almost wanted to pause, to take in the sight of such beauty, but continued on. Perhaps she'd show Zorua later. Her old son had loved the ocean, perhaps this one would as well.

EverD: This was done pretty quickly, but don't expect all the chapters to come out so soon. I have a lot of free time at the moment, but might not later in the week. Things are moving a little slowly, but I promise the next chapter will have a bit more action. Anyway, thanks for reading!