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 Skylaar Wolf and Nulled Lucied for getting me off my butt to finish this chapter and get it posted. It would have been up earlier, but I got nervous and convinced myself no one actually reads this anyway. Then I decided that I want it written because I need the ideas out of my head. Anyway, WILD UPDATE! WOO! *hides from angry readers*

Chapter 6

Harry was disoriented at first, his fingers scrabbling against canvas as he flinched, rolled off the edge of the bunk, wincing as he fell the short few feet to the floor. Half mad with panic and eyes mussed from sleep, he gazed at the chaos that currently resided in the tent. Ron was up, one eye open wider than the other as Charlie shook him awake. Mr. Weasley as well as several other adults, namely Charlie and Bill, were grabbing jackets and shoving pants over their pajamas.

"Come on you two, up! Up! Grab a jacket and get outside-this is urgent!" Mr. Weasley stated as he pulled Ron up and helped the still half-asleep boy into a jacket and some shoes. Harry quickly did as he was told and, following the others, left the tent quickly. Outside, the others squinted into the semi-darkness, the way barely illuminated by the light of several dying fires and flickering burnt remains of tents.

Harry could see clearly though, his eyes taking in what was before him in shock and horror. Fellow witches and wizards were running into the wood, fleeing a group of men dressed in black with pale white face masks. The crowd of men held their wands aloft, emitting bangs and firecracker noises as bright bolts of colored light hit tents and people, blasting them away and catching the canvas tents aflame. A smaller group near the middle held their wands pointed up into the air, laughing uproariously as four struggling figures were being contorted into grotesque shapes.

The masked figures on the ground were playing puppeteers, and the people above them were marionettes operated by magic that rose from the wands. It made Harry ill, even more so than before, when he saw two of the figures were very small, just children. As he continued to watch, the others immobile, stunned at what was before them just as he was, more joined the marching group, laughing and pointing up at the floating bodies. The screaming grew louder, impossibly loud, so much so that Harry could feel his head thrumming with it.

As the group passed over a burning tent, the figures suspended in the air were suddenly illuminated and Harry gasped as he recognized one of them: Mr. Roberts, the campsite manager. The other three were probably his wife and children. He felt green as one of the members below the twitching, hovering people flipped Mrs. Roberts upside down with his wand; her nightdress falling down to reveal her underwear as the woman cried and struggled to cover herself up. The swelling crowd below hooted and jeered with glee.

"That's…," Ron started, swallowing thickly as his own pale face turned a bit green, "That's sick. He flinched some when the smallest muggle child began to spin like a top, sixty feet above the ground, his head flopping limply from side to side. "That's really, really sick."

Hermione and Ginny appeared then pulling on jackets, with Percy behind them and Harry turned away from the scene, watching as Ginny grew pale and Hermione gasped, placing a hand on her mouth. Her eyes were taking in everything, all the horror and he knew that, despite everything, a little more of their innocence was lost to the mad men before them.

"We're going to help the Ministry," Mr. Weasley said, his voice loud over the screaming and hooting of the people around them. He looked pale, but determined all the same. "You lot, get into the woods and stick together. I'll come fetch you when we've sorted this out," He added as he motioned for them to follow the fleeing people into the woods. "Please…stay safe," He added gently.

Harry nodded, shivering a bit as Bill, Charlie and Percy sprinted away towards the oncoming marchers; Mr. Weasley followed after them, light billowing from his wand as he took a few of masked men on. Ministry wizards were dashing everywhere now, popping up with loud cracks of Apparition and heading towards the source of all the trouble. The crowd beneath the Roberts family was looming ever closer.

"Let's get out of here," said Fred, grabbing Ginny's hand and starting to pull her toward the wood. Harry, Ron, Hermione and George followed, but paused as they reached the trees. The crowd beneath the muggle family was larger than ever; they could see Ministry wizards trying to get through it to the hooded wizards in the center, but Harry could tell they were afraid to use any spell that would make the muggle family fall.

There was a tug against the back of his jacket and Harry turned, blinking at Hermione who stared at him with tears in her eyes. "We shouldn't linger," she stated softly, her eyes flicking to him, then back at the group that swelled and grew louder. Nodding in agreement, Harry followed. The colored lanterns that had previously lit the path to the stadium had been extinguished, making traveling for most of them difficult. Dark figures blundered through the woods; children were crying; anxious shouts and panicked voices echoed around them. Harry could feel himself being pushed forward and out by people whose faces he could not see.

Someone from the back of the crowd pushed forward, his loud shouts of, "Get the hell out of my way!" echoed through the forest path as a bright streak of light flashed through the crowd. People went spilling everywhere, the slight bit of calm given to them by the comfort of the trees erased by one man's growing hysteria. Another spell rent the air, cracking the bark of a tree close to Harry causing people once more to start running and screaming. A loud yelp to his left heralded Ron falling over.

"Ron!" Harry started, wincing as he pushed through the crowd. More screaming, another spell and the crowd surged forward. Harry found himself pushed against it, frightened, remembering Mr. Weasley's words to stick together and how it hadn't worked out at all. He felt himself tripping as he pushed through the crowd, someone, he wasn't sure who, pushed him and he was weightless for a moment, before slamming against the ground and skittering down an embankment, his body rolling and hitting trees, rocks and bushes along the way.

Then suddenly, he wasn't falling anymore, though he was definitely on an incline. His body hurt, his head most of all, but at least he wasn't hitting anymore trees. Shifting, he gingerly opened his eyes, surprised his glasses were still on and not broken…to see shimmering blue eyes staring back at him. He froze, but couldn't help but notice that three feet in front of him, the steep embankment jutted out to a cliff and fell into darkness. "You…saved me?" he whispered softly, as the Zoroark shifted and helped him to a more stable position.

"My goal has been, and always will be, to protect you, my little Zorua," the beast replied softly as she looked over him. He had a few cuts and scrapes and bruises, but he was whole and in moderately good health.

"I'm not…I'm not a Zorua, you know. I'm just Harry. A Wizard," He replied as he twisted to look towards the embankment. It was steep, which he could tell just from having fallen down it, and littered with trees and bushes that his back and shoulders had gotten intimately informed of. It was also much too steep to climb. As it was, Zoroark was keeping him stable, while resting against a thick oak tree. On his own hitting the tree probably would have stopped him, or made him roll around and over the edge of the cliff. "That's…one steep hill," He muttered lightly.

The Zoroark behind him huffed gently, clicking her teeth together, before glancing down at the child resting in her arms. She did not like that the other humans had caused him to get separated from his pack of other humans, but she welcomed the time they had together regardless. Perhaps, she could get him to see reason, though after watching him all day she had little hope of him agreeing to run away to safer places with her.

You feel…different from the others. Regardless of what you say, you feel…like me and another type of energy. I do not think that you are only a mere…Wizard," Zoroark stated softly as she watched him take in what was around them. She could easily climb upwards to the path again, with the little one, but she wanted to talk first.

She watched as the little one turned towards her, his eyes narrowing a little in thought, "I feel different? How different?"

Zoroark tilted her head, blinking slightly, "Everything has energy in it, little one; from the smallest blade of grass, to the animals and humans. Each energy is similar to the other, as both exist in balance of each part. The…balance of energies is a bit different from what I'm used to…there being very little Pokémon and all, but it is there," She explained as she ran her claws through Harry's fur, well, hair. Zoroark smiled as Harry's eyes closed faintly, his body relaxing due to her actions.

"That being said. You have energy similar to the other wizards around you. Regular humans, I have noticed, have energy signals that…are the same of what I am used to. It varies between individuals of course, but it is small, settled deeply inside of themselves, and they use it for no more than their usual every day use. Working, running that sort of thing. The…wizards, on the other hand, have a greater amount, again some more than others, and it hovers over the cusp of their own form, like an aura. I believe the manipulations of that energy is what allows them to send those strange colored lights." Pausing a moment here, Zoroark scratched idly at her chin as she tried to put her thoughts into words. It was more difficult than she thought possible.

"Really? No one explained magic like that to me. So what do I feel like?" Harry asked, blushing a little as Zoroark sent him an admonishing look.

"I was getting to that," She muttered lightly, sighing a bit before taking a deep breath and plowing on with her explanation, "You feel like me, or more accurately, you feel like a Pokémon…and like a wizard. Your energy hovers about you like a cloud, much like any wizards I would assume, pulsing gently with your emotions, but it is much more fluid and open than any wizard I've watched. It shifts subtly with your emotions and acts upon them. It also is a bit more…dense, for the lack of a better word."

Harry frowned and fell silent for a moment, his eyes straying up to the path he had been knocked off of. By now, the crowd had passed and the forest had once more fallen silent. He was somewhat pained that he couldn't hear any of his friends, but had to admit that the crowd had been powerful. Much like he had been knocked off, they must have been swept into the tide of it.

"I don't understand. I mean, I guess I do…a little bit. My energy, like any other wizard, hovers outside of my body, above my skin?" He questioned, looking pleased as Zoroark nodded her head in affirmation. "But it's more open and shifts like...a Pokémon's? I don't know what that means."

Zoroark huffed faintly, her nose wrinkling. She relaxed and tried to exude calm when she noticed Harry's expression had become shamed at his lack of understanding. "Little one, I am not angry at you. This world is different than the one I am used to. You must understand, when I was young everyone, even humans, knew about the energy. Some marvelous humans could even wield theirs with ease. I've never had to so thoroughly explain it. Please, give me a moment to think."

Harry nodded, his eyes again leaving her form to glance about the woods. Time passed, a good few minutes really, before a soft sigh made him look back at the agitated Pokémon.

"I cannot think up a way to make the explanation any easier. However, I can…add to it. Pokémon energy is used much like you wizards use yours. For daily things and for defending and attacking. A Pokémon's energy, unlike wizards, has a type and under that type, each Pokémon can learn a limited number of moves. For example, a Pokémon with wings is a flying type and is able to learn moves like Air Cutter, which is a manifestation of that Pokémon's energy and type. That particular attack unleashes razor-like blasts of winds at their opponent. Of course, flying types can also, well, fly. Both as an action and as an offensive maneuver. Types, both through evolution and birth, can be paired. Fire types, upon evolving, can become Flying type, making that Pokémon a duel type of Fire and Flying."

"So," Harry started as he slowly understood the current topic, "My energy has a 'Type' attached to it, so it feels like a Pokémon's energy? And what's this about evolving? Doesn't that take a long time? I mean, I only kind of remember some of my muggle classes, but birds evolved from dinosaurs or something. That took millions of years!"

It was now Zoroark's turn to look confused, tilting her head to the side in an action eerily similar to a dog's. "No, it takes awhile sometimes, but never millions of years. No Pokémon, aside from the Divine Arceus and the Legendaries, which I am now a part of, I suppose, can live that long. Evolution for Pokémon takes certain milestones though. They must grow stronger or older or find a certain special stone and area's in order to evolve. I, myself, am an evolved form of a Pokémon. I used to be a little Zorua too, but I grew up, grew stronger and evolved into the form I have now. However, what you say is also correct. Evolution can take millions of years. I believe that to be correct too. If it helps, think of evolving and evolution as two different things."

"…I think I'm getting a headache. I suppose this circles back to me being a Zorua," Harry said with a sigh as he rested his head on one of his hands. "Say that I believe you, because I truly am starting to. I mean, your arguments seem pretty solid and the energy thing…although I suppose you could be blowing smoke, but what do Zorua's even look like? I mean, I obviously don't look like one at the moment."

Zoroark perked up at this, her whole demeanor going from firm and serious to almost bubbly, "Zorua's are small, about two and a half feet tall. They're gray with a black tuff around their neck and various red marks on their eyes and paws, much like my own."

Harry's expression changed from mildly curious, to shock, "I…I mean that is…I suppose…" pausing, he gathered his wits before speaking once more, "What I mean to say is, I still don't think I'm your Zorua, but you did describe my animagus form. I can't really turn into it yet, but I figured it out awhile back…but that doesn't really make me one! I mean, I just…take the shape of one."

He fell silent, blinking as a gruff sort of laugh escaped Zoroark, "Little one that is what Zoroark and Zorua do! They are illusionists and Dark Type Pokémon, able to take the form of others," She said and, with a slight shimmer around her form, Harry found himself face to face with…himself?! "It is a talent we have that allows us to keep ourselves hidden. We can take the shape of other beings, places and weave illusions around are dens and meadows." She added as, with another similar shimmer, Harry was on a meadow, tall grass spread around him from horizon to horizon. The sun was shining too, feeling warm against his skin. The faint breeze rustling the grass snagged in his hair, tossing it up in gentle fluff's. Beasts he had never seen before flew on wings along the azure sky, calling out to each other, before spinning on updrafts and lazily drifting away.

"You're…You're doing this?! But it's so real!" Harry exclaimed his eyes wide as he took in the meadow.

"Our powers over illusions encompass all the senses completely." There was a hint of smugness in Zoroark's tone now and she looked rather proud of herself. To Harry's disappointment, the illusion ended and he was once more back on the embankment, bruised and scraped and somewhat cold. Another soft shimmer of light and Zoroark was once more herself.

"O-okay, I believe you a little more now. Not completely! I mean, an animagus is just taking the form of an animal and…I guess the book did say you truly became that animal really, or Pokémon in this case. I…I still can't go with you to wherever it is you need to take me! I have friends and…family, I guess," Harry stated, his tone somewhat awed by what he had been shown. "I can't-"

Zoroark placed a paw on his shoulder, "I know little one. I watched you most of the day. You have pack here. Not by birth and blood, but by choice and I won't take you from them. It would be cruel," She said gently, smiling toothily at his relieved, though troubled, smile, "However, I do believe you still need to be trained. I will follow you, but remain hidden. Other Pokémon will be looking for you as well, to welcome you. A new Pokémon hasn't been seen in millennia's!"

Zoroark missed the wince on Harry's face, too caught up with the fact that she had gotten him to finally accept her words, though perhaps more on a trial basis. It was still more than she had assumed so early on in their was a bit busy, missing her slight explanations about the various Pokémon still in existence and instead was caught up with more…fame, for the lack of a better word. First he had to survive the Killing Curse and become the Boy-Who-Lived and now, to an ancient race of rare animals, he was the first 'born' since…well, awhile. Zoroark still hadn't explained that completely yet.

Still…it was nice to see Zoroark in a better mood. Her eyes practically sparkled as she went on and on about training, getting to know one another and the various pokemon he'd eventually meet. "I think you'll enjoy Celebi. Despite his age, he's a bit like a pup himself! Always playing games," she said with a smile.

Laughing, Harry held up a hand to quiet her, "As fun as all that sounds, training's gonna have to wait. I mean, I can't even turn into a Zorua yet. I don't get really far in my transformation, passed a little fur and all."

"Transformation? Oh Little one…Harry, I mean. I suppose I should call you by your name and all now, going into a Zorua form should be easy for you. I mean, certainly it's usually the tail that gives away a novice Zorua, but-" Zoroack said as he once more carded her claws through Harry's hair.

"What are you getting at? I mean, according to the books I've been making excellent time in changing. Shouldn't take me more than…maybe a month!" Harry replied, looking somewhat petulant at Zoroark's words.

"Silly child. Every Zorua has a failsaf, for when they get stuck in form or, if they are young, a bit of the real them that leaks through. Like I said, it's usually the tails that give them away, but…," Zoroark chuckled, her fingers curling on the red tuff of Harry's hair, "I can tell that, being you, nothing will be as it should. A little tug should do it!" She gripped his hair and yanked, not enough to hurt, but enough to send a shockwave down Harry's form.

He shrank, energy building around him before dispersing in arcs of darkly colored rainbow light. When the light vanished, a little Zorua stood quite shocked before her. She blinked as the small form wavered, before collapsing with a heart wrenching little yip.

"That…was not supposed to happen."

EverD: And cliffhanger! I'm sorry it took so long to upload. I honestly had hoped to get this up sooner than...well, practically a month. I promise next chapter will have something really interesting though, so please wait patiently!