This chapter takes place after the 13th Pokémon movie, Zoroark: Master of Illusions
"Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky"
The night was young, the first of the stars only beginning to pop out from behind the dark blue sky. The silhouettes of the final group of residents scurrying to move their possessions back in to their homes before the warm pastel coloured lights of the sunset washed away and the darkness of night time overcame their sweet little town.
But there was one who had a different agenda after the revelations of the day.
Zoroark stood in the corner of a building, allowing the shadows to conceal her large and dominating frame from whatever night crawlers still stumbled across the streets at this late hour. As it hadn't been long since she was cleared from the accusations made by the mad man and humans had infamous short memory loss when it came to such things. One that could easily switch to a mob mentality if even one of them happened to stumble across her in these half deserted streets.
Zoroark looked across the street at the sleeping boy who had a hand in saving her child. Looking from distance he didn't seem to appear impressive, but then again, many wouldn't have predicted that she would be able to the things she could do by a mere glimpse.
If she allowed them to see her that is.
But weary of the possible repercussions, she waited for the sun to set; it wasn't long before night had fallen on the town.
She was safe in the knowledge that her child was asleep next to the boys Pikachu after having worn themselves out from an… interesting game of hide and seek. Of course, this meant the boy… Ash was left to sleep in his hotel room alone to toss and turn in his dreams,
The boy and his friends had been exhausted by the day's events, taking care of and helping Zorua in a foreign world where the Tyrant would have used her little mon as another tool to further his own evil plans.
It was a wonder that Zorua had allowed the boy to see her; it was a wonder that she even trusted him enough to speak the human language whilst in his presence. Zoroark didn't ever use her Lord given abilities if she couldn't help it, and after the shock of battle had worn off, after Celebi had left and the Tyrant thrown into a dark cage so similar to the one that he had sent her into, she asked her little one why?
Why did she trust a human with her safety and freedom when he could just have been another mindless dolt intent on throwing attacks and balls at them as if they were trinkets to be collected?
Zorua just giggled and said to her Meema that whilst Ash may be as smart as a Magikarp, he was kin. Zoroark, puzzled asked her little one how she could tell, because it almost always took a lot of time before any Pokémon could judge that a human was not just another greedy buffoon.
Zorua just looked puzzled, as if her Meema had missed the most obvious thing in the world and then said "but he's not human. He's a Pokémon."
Zoroark looked on in puzzlement, but Zorua explained "He smelt like a Pokémon, so he's not a human!"
"Are you sure?" Zoroark asked "you must remember that he is a trainer so what you smelt could have been the smell of any of his Pokémon, maybe his Pikachu."
"No Meema!" the little Pokémon protested, "He smells like, zo-" she stopped, gagging slightly to her meema's shock as the young Pokémon's speech pattern lowered in pitch and turning rougher, "Zorua" Her voice lightened as she switched back to the human speech, "he smells like a" it lowered, "Zorua."
Which was ridiculous, absolutely and completely ridiculous, and crazy. She didn't tell her kit that. But her little Zorua's assumptions about the human were completely ridiculous.
But regardless, Zoroark didn't want to argue with her family, especially on the same night that they had been reunited and let her little one go to sleep with the Pikachu.
It was ridiculous because Pokémon could never be trainers, no matter how hard they tried or how much they practiced, it always ended in disaster. Always.
But Zorua looked like she really believed it. Like she truly believed that…
Zoroark's rational mind countered that the boy just had a strange smell, probably from not bathing reguarly or using one of those strange perfumes that humans tended to adorn themselves with. That was in all likelihood the case. But a niggling doubt grew in the back of Zoroark's head and she resolved to put all doubts to rest and find out about this trainers strange body odour. For the sake of her kit.
The wind fell silent as she stepped out of the shadow she had used to conceal herself, her illusion of invisibility forming with a faint red glow and covering her from head to toe as she walked across the street. It wouldn't be good for any of the humans to find out that she was breaking into a house when she had just managed to convince them that she wasn't some crazy town destroying monster.
She strode across the street, as swiftly as she could without making a sound whilst keeping her illusion up. The few people who were returning to their homes after the citywide evacuation were none the wiser.
Once she was at the window, she concentrated and used the 'Sharpen Claws' technique, covering her claws in a dark glow that, for a brief moment seeped through her illusion alongside the sharp sound of steel striking against steel that rang through the street.
Zoroark looked around and was relieved that no one was there to have noticed her actions.
She placed one claw in the gap between the window and the frame, slicing upward in a single swift movement creating a sharp Clack sound that told her that the lock had just been sliced in two. It was sloppy work but she would be going home tomorrow, and this was a mystery that needed solving now.
She grabbed the window and began to push slowly, hoping not to make any sound as it opened- Crrrreeeaaakkk.
She wanted to facepalm. Knowing that the boy's got to be awake by- "No May, it's my Chicken noodle soup."
'He couldn't still be asleep, could he?' Zoroark asked herself, looking through the now open window as the boy turned to his side mumbling something about not wanting to play dress up.
Zoroark reminded herself to tell her kit that the boy was more a Snorlax-Slowpoke hybrid than a Magikarp and went through the now open door frame.
Her body tuned itself from years of experience at staying hidden. Her body tensing itself, her breathing becoming shallow so as not to alert the boy who had fallen silent.
She began to study him in the safest way possible and scanned every inch of him with her sharp eyes, seeing nothing that she didn't see before. All reason told her that bar the fact that he helped save her and her kit he appeared to be just another average human, 'Although' the doubt in her mind shouted, even then she couldn't be sure considering her limited interactions with the boy's species.
She brought her snout in closer and took a deep breath, smelling the odd smell that he had about him, like... Ashes. How fitting. Mixed in with- with the calm and earthy scent of the woodland, the dark and rich smell of earth alongside the energising scent of the trees and the bushes. Nothing unusual for a creature that had just come out of the forest.
But there, again there was something else mixed in with it, something faint and distant, like the woodland, and yet not of it. Distinct.
She moved her snout over to his head and felt the smell change completely as the smell of a Pokémon began to dominate, different from a Zorua. This smell was more energetic, more lively. Probably the scent of his Pikachu who she had seen use the boys shoulder as a perch. She had to congratulate the little mouse for finding a novel utility to humanity.
But then that smell came again, a faraway smell so distant and muddled that it was both unique and indescribable at the same time, was this was Zorua smelt?
No, no it couldn't be. Zorua said that she smelt something that resembled herself and this smelt nothing like her little kit.
She drew her claw closer to the boy, if he was one of their kin than this façade of a 'boy trainer' was probably an illusion.
Her claw moved to his cheek. An expert illusion, perhaps. Her claw moved closer. One that would have managed to somehow mask his scent, but an illusion nonetheless that could be easily dispelled by a touch.
The moment her furred paw laid against his cheek a snap in her brain forced her to freeze her actions. 'What did I just do?'
There was no need to do this and threaten to wake him up, she would never have done anything so foolish if not for the wild imagination of her kit and even if this was an illusion, it would be best to leave it as something that should be left alone, lest it be a detriment to her trip back home.
She looked at her frozen paw, still holding the boy's face so… tenderly would be the word she would have used to describe her motion if only because of a lack of other words to use.
She took a deep breath, in and out; maintaining her upmost silence as she slowly lifted her paw from the sleeping boy's cheek.
She looked at him intently as his eyes remained closed and seeing that he was still asleep, held back a sigh of relief.
She swiftly stood up and began to move back towards the window, no longer willing to risk her and her child's safety for the need of fulfilling a mere intellectual curiosity.
Before she left she took a final glance at the boy to ensure that he was still asleep, and was relieved to see that he was left undisturbed.
But then she took a second glance, something strange catching her attention. She saw a small amount of dark hair on top of the cheek that she had touched and wondered how it had gotten off of her paw.
She moved back towards the boy, looking at her paw and realising that she still had all of her fur still on her.
Her head moved as close to the boy's face as she could move it whilst still keeping things relatively safe. And in doing so, noticed that the patch of fur was actually sticking out from his cheek.
Her heart beat intensified and her breath became sharper. She knew now that there was some truth to her kit's words, but for now she was stuck here on the edge, the will to go away from this creature growing in intensity, but being rivalled by an even louder shout within her that roared with a mighty thunder to go forward.
As her mind went through the turmoil that threw all her thoughts into disarray her paws began to move, intoxicated by the thrill of unmasking this creature. Piece by piece, her resolve to run crumbling to dust as she slowly began to realise that there was no going back.
Her paw caressed his cheek, momentarily going over the odd patch of fur in its path as the skin vanished to be replaced by dark grey fur. It was stunning, like watching Celebi breathe life to the forest.
This was amazing. She had to find a way to continue her unmasking of this male without alerting him, and that was in any circumstance no simple task. She had to find a way to touch every corner of his body without his waking up, and perhaps even take off his clothes. Assuming that they weren't an illusion as well.
Her first thought took hold as she moved up and over to the bed, took off the covers and propped herself up on top of him. A position of dominance in case he woke up and a position that (a part of her brain argued) was rather provocative. She castigated herself for her thoughts, this entire situation was provocative.
She felt excitement run through her entire body, in every hair, in every bone, shaking her spine with electric shocks, forcing her heart to move at a breakneck pace, and ripping the air right out of her lungs.
She bought her muzzle down to his face and looked at his sleeping form. The boy's innocent baby face half covered with fur. A sort of tainted innocence.
Her long arms slid under his shirt and lifted it up in a smooth and gentle motion and took it off in an instant. Eliciting only the smallest of sounds, and leaving the boy undisturbed.
She brought her paws down to his sides, and gently stroked upwards, watching in wonder as the fur popped up in all the places that she had touched.
A sudden urge gripped her and she brought her snout down to his stomach, brushing it upwards from his belly button to his chest, whilst taking in a deep deep breath.
She let her nose dance in the sensation. The forest had gone and left only the ashes in its place, and the deep rich and spicy scent of a Zoroark. A fleeting and forbidden wish in her heart wondered if this male was mature enough for what she would deny to wanting, but even as her fading professional half protested, the half thought twisted her stomach in anticipation.
More the rush of fire in her head screamed, and slowly her muscles tensed as she began to gradually change the image of the young boy into something that was much more striking.
Covered in hair like an untamed Wildman. Primitive and ferocious.
Her arms began to wrap around him like the coils of a snake bringing him closer as her snout smelt every inch of him, becoming intoxicated with the scent, intoxicated with the forbidden desire.
Then she heard him moan. A small sharp intake of breath that made her freeze completely, followed up by movement as he wriggled to try and become more comfortable in her firm grip.
She was snapped out of her haze and noticed that she was now on her side, the boy wrapped up in her arms, and his legs entangled with hers.
She took a moment to breathe, smelling only smoke and fire that threatened to burst into an inferno if she didn't try to bring some control upon her actions.
She tried to distract herself by looking through his hair. His hair which was so unlike that of her kind, but the moment her claws touched it, it grew longer and smoother. Another electric shock engulfed her as she looked on this strange development take place, wanting to know just what technique her kin had used to hide himself so effectively.
But her paws once more took up a life of their own and began to comb through his hair to make it grow longer, and larger. Then it began to change in colour. The deep black slowly becoming highlighted by a vibrant red. And then as she clawed a strand and bought it up to her face it began to change once more to a deep purple.
Her heart was pounding at the sight of what was possibly, quite possibly the most precious thing she had ever seen. A shiny of her kind, having known that her kind were rare enough that the only one she had met as of yet had been her little kit who she had adopted.
A growl rose as she felt an unfamiliar strength rise up inside of her, ready to claim this male as hers, so that she could keep him as her own, either mate or kit. Her grip tightened.
Then he began to shuffle once, squirming in the clutches of the female that had now completely restricted his movement, and as another growl rose up her throat it was met with a moan on his part that acted like a kick to her heart, forcing it to pound with a heavy beat.
But the scent began to arise once more. Pulling her under, deeper and deeper until her body was not her own any more, but completely engulfed by the scent that was now drowning her.
Zoroark's snout roamed over every inch of him, her mouth opening to let out her panting tongue and her motions becoming a blur of strokes that she was licking him all over, changing him, shaping him like clay as the boy slowly began to lose his human features and began to appear more like her, more like a Zoroark.
His face was the first to change as she licked up from the cheeks, slowly forming the snout; all the while her chest began to feel heavier with the feel of the fur on his chest.
He groaned, eyes closed tight, tossing and turning as she began to explore and alter every piece of him to her liking, to something better.
All done to the soundtrack of his groans only served to fuel her assault as the heat inside of him began to grow deeper and more intense.
His breaths grew sharper and sharper, until he opened his eyes, mind racing at the strange feeling that caressed him all over. The endless warmth and softness of fur that now surrounded him.
He screamed a soundless cry in panic, she tightened her grip and then it was all a blur or black and red and purple until she was torn with roaring tension and he was petrified with fear.
She stopped, having run out of steam, realising in a part of her mind that she was close to having lost herself to her baser instincts.
He opened his eyes, feeling the strange yet familiar sensation of a cold sweat surround him. And as he turned, he saw the familiar face of Zoroark staring down at him with her piercing blue eyes.
He froze in utter fear, every inch of him locking in position as the child inside of him begged to be back home and in the safe and familiar arms of his mother.
As their eyes locked Zoroark felt a shifting in the boy. Not movement, she knew from the horror on the boy's face that he wasn't moving, but something different was happening. His arms were changing size and shape, she could feel it. They were growing longer, his whole body was growing longer, stronger, more different. More akin to the glorious shape of a Zoroark as she held him.
And through all of the changes she held him, disappointed at herself and her actions in the case that he was still just a young one that had evolved early, and was now forced into the awkward position that he was in now.
But her sense of property only grew and she knew that he was still hers. She may have gotten a little overzealous in removing his innovative illusion, but even then she had not, in any way violated him, and as she stared into his eyes she made a promise to herself to keep him with the same vigilance that she had kept a hold of her kit.
But then the pounding of her heart began to rise once more as his eyes, the brown eyes that she was staring into began to shift and change in colour, becoming a lighter shade of brown, and then turning to green before settling on blue the colour of her kind. A blue that seemed to mirror her own.
He was hers.
She snapped out of her gaze when she realised just how long they had been fixed in that intimate position and broke it with a quick and friendly lick of the cheek, as if the tell the boy… no Ash, her Ash that everything was fine; then feeling him relax in her grasp as a result. As he began to find her hold on him more comforting than terrifying.
He then had a look of confusion in his eyes as he opened his new mouth to ask a question, only to be forced to let out an odd groaning sound.
He stopped in surprise as Zoroark loosened her grip on him.
He opened his mouth once more in an attempt to make a coherent word pass his lips but to his despair everything he said became a jumbled mess of groans and grunts.
His eyes became filled with sorrow as Zoroark detached herself from the boy completely, and got off of the bed.
He took a moment to come to his senses and realised that it would be best if he got up, but as he moved his arms he was assaulted by the alien feeling of moving around the two large and unwieldy limbs.
He tried moving them again, only to get strange, jerky responses as they flailed about. Then he looked down at them and saw large grey paws.
A beat passed and he began hyperventilating. His new, more pronounce chest moving forward and backward as he wheezed, but Zoroark moved onto him in an instant, lifting him and wrapping him in her arms around his slightly smaller frame, whispering soothing noises in his pointed ears until he calmed down completely.
When she sensed that he was alright she loosened her hold, only to discover that he had fallen asleep in her arms, exhausted from what she could only guess was the trauma.
He was a Zoroark, she was sure of that, or at least he was a Zoroark now. There was something odd about Ash, something that unnerved her slightly... as if she could barely see anything regarding the situation she had found herself in. And for the sake of her kits, both Zorua and Ash, this was a worrying position to be in.
There was a chance that this was all an elaborate illusion; reason would suggest that that would be the most rational answer. But even that didn't seem to make any sense, and for the safety of the boy that was now her Ash she would not dare to make any assumptions that could endanger him.
Perhaps this was a meeting set up by the Legendaries, a meeting that she had failed to notice and perhaps, just perhaps he wasn't a Pokémon, or at least he wasn't before this. No Pokémon had ever taken on a role as a trainer, it always ended in disaster, therefore there was no way that he was a full Pokémon. No way at all.
Her instincts screamed to her of the unnaturalness of it all. The blasphemy of putting together a human and a Pokémon so seamlessly.
No, this was all different, he was hers! And she would find out what was going on.
But what if she couldn't? She sighed, knowing that in that case all she could do was help him to adapt for the time when he would 'officially' join her and her kit.
She moved him back to the bed, holding him as if he was the most precious thing in the world, an in a way he was the most precious thing in the world, on level to her kit at the very least.
She went outside the same was she had managed to get in, maintaining absolute silence throughout. When outside she discovered that the town was now bathed in the light of the night sky. The lights of the stars blinking above her, trailing across the sky as if it was a trail of spilled milk.
Divine. She wondered briefly if the legends she had represented all of her life knew what was wrong with her.
If there was some divine plan to explain the hole inside of her that had been ripping her insides more and more lately.
If filling the hole with this boy as her own would end the longing that she felt.
She sighed, knowing that the ship back home would have to wait. Her little mon would probably be ecstatic at the idea, but there were plans she would have to make if her Ash's secret was to remain so, and her first stop would be to wake up her kit and her boy's little Pikachu. There was some explaining and planning to do, and in this mission she would not fail.
Ash groaned as a few stray rays of sunlight hit his closed eyelids.
He felt strange. Heavy, as if he had been buried under a pile of sand and every motion he made required some extra effort.
But his struggle to get up was, as always, a half-hearted one and he saw fit to just sleep the morning away.
Of course it was at that moment that he heard a strange voice call out to him "hey, wakey wakey."
It wasn't a voice that he could remember recognising. It was feminine, high pitched… almost childlike, yet maintaining a smoothness that signified maturity.
Then again he wasn't known for his amazing memory so he might know her from somewhere.
"Yes, your memory sucks, but you can blame me for that… a little, heh" the voice answered to Ash's surprise "and yes you doooo know me, but I'ma not gonna tell you sweet cheeks cos that'd be bo-ring" and all of a sudden Ash had gone from half asleep to completely awake, opening his eyes to search for this mystery person, only to find an empty room.
"But I'm not one of those super-crazy take-over the world and rule over it with an iron fist sort of gals so you don't gotta worry about that, nu-uh. Heck I've kept you safe… how many times now? Hmmm?"
Ash panicked, still not finding the source of the voice.
"and you're not gonna find me until you reach at least level six you adorable little munchkin you. Besides, I'm on your side, and hopefully we can sort out your little transformation."
Transformation? Ash wondered.
"Didn't you notice?" the voice asked as Ash looked down to his body in horror, "you're a Zoroark now"
Well that was a risky chapter for me. Heavy on the descriptions, and well… Zoroark, I'm scared that people may not agree with what I made her do (or that the writing suggested that she did something that she didn't), but I'm trying to set her up as a passionate, professional, lonely and slightly insane Pokémon, who is fiercely devoted to all those close to her and seeks a family of any sort. As they are all that she has.
There's also our new mystery friend who I personally can't wait to have fun with.
And, oh yeah, Ash is a new Pokemon now! what do you think of that!
But yeah, it was a slow start, and the writing style was a little different to the rest of the story, but I think it worked relatively well. What do you guys think? Good, bad, more lemons? Review and tell me…