Thank you to all my reviewers. I had another chapter all ready for release, but after reading your heartfelt messages I realised that it'd break the flow and decided to leave it for later. Then wrote this up, just for you guys.

:)

"Heeeey" the voice asked in concern "Ashy, you awake?"

"Woo hoo," she continued, "wakey wakey" but received no response from the boy turned Pokémon who just looked down at his claws in horror.

"Erm" the voice paused to think of something that would snap the boy out of his trance, "I got cake"

And like the crack of a whip Ash snapped out of his trance, scanning the room fiercely for the elusive trickster that turned him into this.

But just as quickly as he started he was interrupted by a giggle, "Silly sausage, you can't see me."

Ash tried to decipher in his head the things that the voice had just said and it must have shown on his face because the voice just giggled at him.

"you can't see me. Because I'm not here." The voice answered, bringing about another wave of questions in the boys mind .

"But don't you worry you're pretty little head about all that nonsense" the voice interrupted once more "first we got to ask ourselves what dastardly villain could do these devious doings."

Ash's brain began to spin as he opened his mouth to try and talk to this person, only to release a painful heave of dry air from his mouth.

Ignorant to Ash's pain the Voice carried on, "and what's up with alliteration, everyone knows that onomatopoeia's a much better word. Heck, you know what? I think that onomatopoeia should burn alliteration's house down… with lemons!"

Yet this didn't dissuade Ash as he continued to try and talk, letting out a dry growl that stopped the voice in its tracks.

"Huh? What's up baby cakes? Need a glass of water?" the voice asked as Ash panted, "Aww, sorry but I'm a little incorporeal at the moment. I know about a T.V. show that teaches you how to make your own water though."

Ash whined in desperation, feeling her words ring through his head as if she was talking from right in front of him.

"Sorry, I haven't translated the 'uwwww' language as of yet, but I'm working on it. Are you still unable to talk or something?"

Ash nodded his head with fervour, glad to see this conversation go somewhere constructive. The voices light hearted demeanour, having already erased most of the doubt he had about its motives.

"Well" the voice drawled, "I'm not really sure why you can't. When Mr Blobby decided to keel over and scramble your precious vital fluids, I'm pretty sure the ability should have passed on to you" Ash once again found himself clueless, "and then I suppressed the variables that he introduced and locked away the curse which may have suppressed your learning curve."

The voice paused before restarting, "But then again there was that whole business with the Scyther where you were all ninja and didn't say nothin', maybe you weren't just being mysterious… heh, whod've figured?"

Ash blinked, finding himself utterly perplexed. What Scyther business?

"Huh?" the voice responded and Ash could feel as if she was watching him, "Confused? Well I guess you would be, what with the way you used Amnesia, heck, I never did manage to figure out how you managed to use that."

Ash didn't know if he wanted her to keep talking to try and help as she seemed to be doing now, or to be quiet and give time for his head to rest for a moment.

"But oh well" she answered, deciding things for him "cest la vie and all that humbug." Then paused.

"Oh yeah, you can't talk." Another pause, "Try talking again." Ash groaned but complied in an attempt to say the phrase 'hello' but only coming up with a strange gargling sound.

"Well that didn't work out well. You tried to say something human didn't you?" Ash nodded, "Gosh you are sooo predictable. It's a little embarrassing really."

Suddenly Ash wished for a little silence as she began to list his flaws. "You forget things at an alarming rate, you're cliché at times, you don't know what ten times ten is and you know what? You should call your mother more often, she's probably worried sick about you and all those shenanigans you get up to." She paused.

"Where was I? Oh yeah! Philosophy! Now try to say something like 'Zoroark'"

Ash blinked at the request but eventually complied and managed to successfully let out a scratchy rendition of his new species name. But before Ash could find some pride in his accomplishment the disembodied voice beat him to the punch.

"Oh yeah! Who's the daddy? 'The Voice' is the daddy." Ash rolled his eyes, "Don't you roll your eyes at me Mr." she scolded "I don't care how adorable you are, in every internal monologue you have from now on, you shall address me as" her voice turned low and masculine "The Daddy"

Ash paused, disturbed beyond measure. Wondering momentarily what the word 'monologue' meant. But tossed it away as one of those made up words that crazy people decided to come up with when they were bored.

With nothing else to do he decided to try and speak once more. He took a deep breath, trying to get a feel for the vocal chords that he had used prior and let out another, stronger "Zoroark" pass through his lips.

"Huh?" the voice answered, "That sounded like you were trying to say-"

They heard the sound of activity from outside of the door and froze in place until the sounds had begun to disappear once again.

"That's not good" The Voice said, echoing Ash's thoughts "if they find us… well. It could be good, but it could also be bad. I mean remember the hive?" Ash didn't remember but still understood the intent behind The Voice's words.

"We have to get out" The Voice said, quickly earning the approval of Ash who nodded in response.

"We can get out from… we can get out from" Ash looked at the window. "The window! Of course! That's the perfect idea, why didn't you think of it. Clearly I'm a genius!" Ash felt an urge to roll his eyes. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."

Ash hesitated but was spurred on by an irritated shout of "Now!" which caused his unruly legs to rush forward and slam him into the wall.

As he reoriented himself he heard an odd smacking sound, "In case you were wondering. That was the sound of me… face palming myself"

Ash shrugged off his annoyance and tried to get off of the floor using his new and larger arms to push himself upwards on all fours.

Noticing for a brief moment the strange sensation of moving musces that weren't his own. But as before the voice cut in. "Geeze, you weren't this clumsy the last time… but then again…" Ash felt like pulling out his hair! What last time?

"The big guy helped you, didn't he? Yeah, look. You're in a different body so all those instincts that you're used to won't work. So you're going to have to try and look for your new ones." What was she talking about now? "Think" she scolded him, "You're a Zoroark now, you can make illusions that rival the real thing and harness the power of the shadows."

But Ash wasn't convinced. He couldn't really do that stuff, could he? He was a human. Sure he was in a different body, but the things that made him him. The important things, the things that really mattered hadn't changed at all. They couldn't!

Could they?

"Snap out of it!" he heard her shout, "please. I don't want to see you get hurt" she urged, making him briefly wonder why that was so.

But then they heard a knocking on the door, "Ash?" it was Brock, "You in there? I heard some noise."

Ash whimpered and covered his face, knowing that it was too late now. He was alone, an insane boy who thinks that he's Pokémon with a little girls voice inside of his head.

What would his friends do to him? Try to help him by giving him to some professor who would run test after test on him. Keep him as a Pokémon and catch him as one of their own.

"Ash, come on. Snap out of it!"

And what if they thought that he was just some Pokémon who had broken into the room and harmed their friend? What would they do then?

He heard the door open, along with Mew mutter something mournfully.

"Ash?" Brock whispered into the room as the boy turned Pokémon hid his face in shame, folding in on himself, trying his best to try and hide himself from the judging gaze of his friends.

"Sleeping like a baby" Brock said to himself. Ash looked up in shock as the elder boy walked out of the room and gently closed the door, leaving only silence behind him.

"No… way" came the prompt sound of his acquaintance reminding Ash that he still had his hallucinations to keep him company.

"No- crackajacking way." She continued, "How the? Who the? Did you just make an illusion? How in the world did you do that! You can't even stand up, there is no way you can- you know what, I'm gonna find an imaginary wall to beat my imaginary head against. Maybe then this'll all make sense." And whilst Ash was sceptical of her claims, she did produce adequate sound effects.

Eventually Ash tuned out her antics and colourful language and focused on getting back upon his own two feet. Trying his best to remember the advice that was given to him.

Something about instincts and using his new ones. He didn't know if he had any but then again there wasn't any harm in trying. He reached deep into himself and stood up, suddenly finding a shift in his movement from his first comical attempts to something much more composed.

He studied his posture and noticed how he had naturally managed to get into a hunched pose that he had seen Zorua's Meema use. He moved his leg one at a time, using his hands- paws for support and found the motion comfortable, if a little alien.

He moved again and felt a power inside of him.

As if it was there all along, all strung up, ready to be let loose at a moment's notice.

Power, he couldn't believe just how strong he felt.

It was only then that he noticed just how small his room looked and like a click in his head he realised that he had grown larger.

Perhaps things weren't so bad after all?

"Yay!" but then again "You finally got the hang of standing up! Woo hoo. Now come on, I've got no idea if you can pull that little illusion trick off again so we got to skedaddle." The voice said.

"Come on Fido," she continued when she noticed that Ash hadn't moved a muscle "Let's find out if you can learn how to walk and when we're out of here I'm gonna have a word with you about your self-esteem issues."

So with a little regret on his part Ash followed the orders of the voice and stumbled his way out of the window.

Hitting his head twice on the frame on the way out. His new instincts not capable of letting his larger frame climb out of windows just yet.

Zoroark managed to make her way through the streets, slightly unnerved at the sheer speed at which time that had passed during the night that she had been with Ash.

No, wait. That was really bad phrasing. The time she was in bed with- wait, the time that she broke into Ash's room- no.

Ugh.

Regardless, the night was slipping away like sand between her claws. The sky already beginning to light up in the horizon from the inky black that she preferred and thrived under, to the lighter pastel shades of the morning.

It surely hadn't taken the whole night? What in the world had taken hold of her that it… no, she had to get to her child.

So shaking off any remaining doubts that she had she made her way towards the Pokémon centre where Zorua slept with the new friend that she made and in a flurry of elegant strides she was there.

She managed to slip past the doors, briefly covering herself in her illusions so as to evade the security cameras and any nurses that may have been walking amongst the corridors.

An image of the buildings layout began to form in her hear as she made her way to the secure back part of the centre where the Pokémon slept safe and sound.

It didn't take long for her to find her child in a basket with her new yellow playmate. Zoroark smiled, yet felt a slight pang of regret as she watched her child sleeping.

This was the night that they had finally been reunited and yet her kit had gone to sleep with another Pokémon. Was she growing up?

The questions were forced to stop as Zorua shook in the basket. Her Meema's heart freezing at the thought that her kit may be having a nightmare, but then her child's bright blue eyes opened up and looked upon her mother, a groggy smile appearing as she acknowledge the elder, still cloaked in shadow.

"Hey meema." Her kit said in her native tongue, having switched to it after being reprimanded from her parent as to the dangers of speaking human in a populated area where a bunch of greedy humans were out to get her.

"Good morning little one"

"Meema" Zorua groaned, looking around at the dark room, "is it even morning?"

"Just about my little star" she whispered softly, the joy in her heart blossoming from hearing the sweet voice of her loved one.

"Aww" Zorua moaned, slumping back into her bed, "Can't we sleep for just a little longer?"

"Now now" Zoroark prodded, gently lifting her little one out of her bed and onto the floor beside it "You can't get used to staying awake during the day. And besides there's something important that I have to talk with you about."

"Important?" Zorua echoed, her ears swivelling to attention, "like Top Secret important?"

"Something like that" Zoroark whispered, "but first. What about your friend?"

Zorua looked puzzled for a moment before she realised that her Meema was looking over to the basket. "Oh you mean Pikachu?" Zoroark nodded, "Oh, he's sleeping. Did you know that he likes ketchup? Like really likes ketchup, he drunk a whole bottle down in one go!"

Zoroark smiled, the youthful joy in her child's eyes making herself feel younger.

"That's nice my little star" she purred "But we're going to need to wake him up. This is something that needs his attention as well as yours."

"Wake him up?" Zorua repeated to herself, running the conundrum through her head until a solution presented itself like the flicking of a light bulb. "I got an idea!"

The little one rushed up to Pikachu's ear, to her mother's amusement and began to whisper to the electric type. "Pikachu."

"Hmm, yeah" he groaned in his sleep.

"It's me. Your friend."

"My… dend" Pikachu echoed groggily.

"I've just found out a horrible truth" Zorua whispered, her tone laced with distress.

"That's nice." Pikachu mumbled, twisting around to try and fall back to sleep.

"The ketchup is a lie." Zorua continued.

"The ketchup is a lie." Came the echo.

"There is no more ketchup" Zorua's tone left no room for questioning.

"No… ketchup" Pikachu sounded distressed.

"It's all gone"

"Gone" the electric type began to twitch as if he was going through a nightmare.

Zorua's eyes glinted with mischief "There's only… mayonnaise"

"NOOOO!"

The walk outside was a little awkward for Ash. He tried to slink around the town as if he was some ninja, but only managed to make himself look ridiculous. A fact that was broken to him every time a group of early morning joggers would pass by him and stare as if they were wondering how they could ever assume that this creature had threatened the safety of their town.

His invisible companion hadn't said anything; however that was probably because she was humming the Mission Impossible tune.

Regardless, it was an unnerving walk to the outskirts of the town after that. Mainly because of the urge Ash would have to act inconspicuous. Which was something that a dark, seven foot fox with bushy hair would find fairly difficult to do after dawn.

But he did eventually manage to make it outside of the town. Having gotten lost only five times. His companion stopping her little tune and telling him, without any sound of hesitation that he should "go and ask somebody for directions. What's the worst that could happen?"

He ignored her.

Eventually they found themselves at the edge of town, besides a pond right next to the surrounding forests.

Ash decided to take a drink from the pond, the morning's activities leaving him a little thirsty.

In the distance he heard his companions amazed voice squeal "Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh" in wonder at the sight of nature around her, "It's a tree! A real tree, and I can see it! I can see it!"

And Ash was just happy that she wasn't talking to him about the… stuff that she talked about. He'd forgotten most of what she had said, trying to tune it into the background noise with surprising ease.

"And bushes! Ohmygosh! Look how cute it is! It's got spikes, the bush is trying to act cool, aww that's sooo adorable. Ash, Ash come here, see the cool bush"

Ash felt a warmth pool in his heart, at hearing his… whatever she was sound so happy at the simplest of things.

By now it didn't seem as if she had any malevolent intent towards him. Even if she was the one who put this curse onto him, it sounded as if she just wanted to have some fun, and make his ears bleed whilst doing it.

He looked back down to the pond, bringing his gaze away from where he thought that her ethereal form may have been. And what he saw in his reflection froze him to the core.

His companion chirped, "If only the bush was purple like your hair, but alas."

His world was ending.

"I like purple, do you like purple?"

No.

"Maybe we should take a trip to the salon."

The trio of Pikachu, Zoroark and Zorua had been pushed outside by Pokémon who were given a rude awakening from Pikachu's outburst.

Pikachu was miserable beyond words, whilst Zorua was bouncing with joy, "I'm telling you, I had the worst dream ever."

"What did it involve?" Zorua smirked.

"Pirates, and explosions and-"

"Excuse me?" Zoroark intervened. "I have something important to tell you."

"Huh? Is that why we're out here. I thought it was because somebody let off some gas and they thought it was Zorua."

"Oi!" the little one shouted, "Not funny! Besides I want to hear more about Pikachu's" snort "dream"

"Well I was a pirate fighting hordes of sea ninjas and-"

"Excuse me." Zoroark interrupted again, amused at how quickly the two of them had managed to shake off the after effects of sleep.

"Huh? Oh yeah, you were gonna say stuff. Don't worry I'm listening." Pikachu responded, appearing in any case as if he couldn't care less as long as he could go find a bed to sleep in.

"It's about your trainer." Pikachu's attention was now completely focused on her.

"What about him?"

"Something's happened." Zoroark answered, not knowing how exactly to relay last night's events to the little yellow Pokémon.

"Yeah?"

"It's not bad, but it's just something that happened to-"

"What happened?"

"Well you know your trainer?"

"Are you going to say it or am I going to have to run over there to find out myself?" Zorua smacked Pikachu lightly for talking like that when her Meema was clearly trying to let the truth out.

"You see your trainer has…" she paused for a moment to collect her thoughts "The boy. Ash, has transformed into a Pokémon, a Zoroark exactly."

"Really?" Pikachu asked.

"Really"

"Well…" he sighed "wouldn't be the first time."

"Huh?"

"What did he do now? Pull your hair and invoke a thousand year curse?"

"What, no!"

"Tempt a witch into making him see through the eyes of others?"

"No!"

"Try to punch a Legendary in the face?"

"NO!" Zoroark shouted, "He did not, He did not. How did you even come up with those scenarios?"

"Personal experience"

"Personal…" Zoroark spluttered, "you know what, I don't even want to know."

"You don't" Pikachu confirmed with a sage like nod of his head.

"Still, he's transformed into a Zoroark and needs your help" she told him, thinking back to the look of utter fear she saw in the boys eyes the night before, "I'm sure that when he wakes he'll be lost and confused."

"He's always lost and confused" Pikachu quipped earning a look of scorn from the single mother who wondered how the trainer could ever put up with such incessant commentary.

She briefly pondered if the inability of humans to understand Pokémon speech was less a curse from the heavens and more a blessing.

"Regardless, he needs you to be there with him, and you too Zorua, you can help him get used to his new body." The two perked up at hearing their new assignments, "I'm going to try and stall the boat and his freinds, understood?" They nodded, "Good" and with that Zoroark bounded off leaving to two small Pokémon to go about their task of helping the trainer.

But as they got moving, Pikachu briefly wondered what exactly had happened to his trainer to put him into such a circumstance and how Zoroark had come to find out about it.

But regardless of all that Pikachu had faith in his trainer.

Yes, Ash would need someone by his side, but Pikachu was certain that his trainer would bounce back and revel in his new body and he was sure that by the time he burst into his trainer's room. Ash would be there with a silly grin on his face, overjoyed at the thought of being a Pokémon.

Ash sat on a log, head held between his paws, wondering what in the world he had done to deserve this.

"When the world gives you apples, don't eat the apples! Make apple juice!"

He was transformed into a Pokémon.

"Don't listen when the world says that it's smarter to make orange juice."

He couldn't say a single word that anyone would understand.

"Tell the world that if it doesn't pipe down you'll force the world to work for you at minimum wage at your apple juice factories!"

What was worse, she seemed to be incapable of stopping.

"and that you'll play the Numa Numa song for twenty-four hours in those factories."

Like some pest sent from the heavens to spite him?

"You got that world!"

She had been going on with her 'motivational speech' for who knows how long now, having not forgotten Ash's stunt in the bedroom.

Wait, that didn't come out right.

"Don't you dare say that there's too much cake! You can never have too much cake!"

And what was worse, what made Ash feel sick down to his core was the feeling of doom. The feeling that it was definitely going to get worse.

"and why in the world did that guy in Saffron suggest that Kanto Ghost types were strong against Psychics? Because they're not!"

Knowing that all he could do was hope that his imaginary friend would run out of imaginary air sometime soon.

I'm sorry, you deserve better. Forgiiiiive meeee… pleeeease.