Vines & Briars

Chapter 13: Illusion & Friendship

Almost as soon as he had said the name, Rick wanted to slap himself in the head for being an idiot.

No. Why'd I say that? I've never even seen a vulpix like this before.

However, the dark- almost black- fur on the Pokemon before him was familiar. It had reminded him, along with that voice, of her. It was a moment after this realization that he also noticed he had identified the Pokemon before him without thinking, though for reasons he could not recall even in his vague memory.

The vulpix ignored his question and proceeded to further say what she desired.

"Stay with me here. I want a friend with me." she said, rather hopefully. Rick shook his head, though he was hesitant mostly due to the confusion his scrambled mind was experiencing from all the memories trying to surface.

"Er, no thanks," he said, trying to be polite, "If you want to be friends, couldn't we just go into the guild together?"

"No!" the fox snapped almost immediately, making Rick jump, "I'm not going near them! I want to stay here! Stay with me!"

The fox's personality had performed a nearly complete about-face, going from serene and friendly, to very upset and demanding.

This isn't Elisa, but why is my memory... errgh!

Rick shook his head again, trying to just put aside his confusion. The memories were coming back, but he was sure of only a few things: the red hair was something of Elisa's... the voice this fox was using was hers... and this childish personality was not hers.

"Who are you!?" Rick demanded, immediately getting defensive.

"That doesn't matter! I want you to stay!" The fox shrieked and then inhaled and... well, Rick instinctively knew what was coming and dived out of the way. A cloud of flames fanned out, burning everything in front of the fox to a crisp, and Rick's nerves were frayed just seeing the fire.

No way I want to get burnt. Not again.

Almost as soon as he had gotten up from his evasive maneuver, he saw his opponent charging at him and he was struck with a set of claws.

"Agh!" He yelped as he was slashed.

Something's not right...

He shook the errant thought from his head and tried to refocus himself on the fight.

I need to fight back.

However, going up against a fire-type complete with a fiery attack was tempting him more to run away from this fight than challenge it.

While he was still trying to straighten out his thoughts and make a decision, his opponent attacked again, hitting with a punishing blow upon his head.

"Ugh! Back off!" he yelled after getting hit again and he tried to lash the fox with his vine. However, she agilely dodged the attack and the next moment her expression was extremely hurt. She hid her face and shook, as if sobbing. Rick blinked, taken off-guard by this sudden show of tears and he was a little flustered as he hadn't expected to be fighting someone who was emotionally hurt that easily.

Then he barely evaded another blast of flames. He had to pat his tail on the ground a couple times to put out the singed leaves.

Geez! That hits me solidly just once, and I'm toast. Literally!

He couldn't ignore the feeling there was still something wrong here. The thought was still nagging in the back of his head and he couldn't be sure why. The fox before him looked like a vulpix... the fur looked similar... and the voice was familiar. Why was the personality so different from what his vague memory was telling him?

An impersonator? No... that doesn't make any sense. If this was a person, they could... I don't know, disguise themselves? But you can't do that as a Pokemon.

...Are you sure?

Rick blinked as that last thought entered his head.

I thought you were going let me be...

No further thoughts entered his mind and though he was sure that thought hadn't been his own, it was still plausible as simply an errant idea. Rick defended himself against another swipe from the fox and tried to focus himself and think.

A disguise as a Pokemon. How is that possible? It's not something physical. Besides that, whoever this is couldn't have mimicked her voice physically... so how could they manage to do that? Are they making me hear that voice? But how?

He lashed out with another vine, which the fox seemed to want to avoid getting hit by, as she dodged it again.

It's more than the personality. This fox isn't acting like a vulpix. It may breathe fire but why would it want to bother avoiding a grass-type move? It's like me getting hit with water. It would hardly hurt at all. Unless...

He ran around the fox as she inhaled again and blew a spray of fire at him which he managed to avoid completely. He then raised his guard again, readying himself for the next physical blow.

Even if nothing else is making sense, I am seeing her attack pattern. She tries to hit me with fire, then she attacks with her claws, then fire again. Let's see if I can turn the tables and catch her off-guard.

True to his expectations, the fox charged at him again. Rick turned around and flicked his tail at her, his focus on the leaves on his tail. He had had plenty of time to think over how he had injured Croc earlier while he had been thinking in bed. And he had deduced the weapon. Though in hindsight, it was obvious.

The sudden counter-attack did catch his opponent off-guard and furthermore had the effect Rick had been trying to achieve. She let out a startled scream that did not belong to Elisa as Rick's tail-leaves slashed her up-side the cheek.

Then she blurred and fizzled... like a picture that had been smeared, or a disrupted image on a television. Rick was, needless to say, a little stunned and he blinked as the vulpix blurred and vanished.

Before him now, was a completely different fox. She had a cut along her cheek where Rick had hit her with his tail, and she looked as upset as her illusion had been. The fox was barely smaller than the vulpix had been and she had a ruff of dark fur around her neck. Her ears were pointed and she had red paws, red on top of the fur on her head, and a couple of spots over her eyes that were also as red as her eye lids. The rest of her was varying shades of black, from her pointed nose, to her furry tail.

A zorua? Rick thought, unsurprised as his memory of the name automatically came back upon seeing the Pokemon. He couldn't remember that illusions were a natural ability for them, but it was evident that the vulpix had been nothing but an illusion so even if he couldn't remember it was the only conclusion to draw.

That explains quite a bit. I never was facing a fire-type to begin with.

Feeling a little more confident now that he knew what he was dealing with; Rick focused on the zorua and beckoned her forward.

"C'mon. I'm ready."

She wiped her cut cheek with one paw and growled at him.

"You'll pay for that, jerk. I just wanted a friend and this is how you treat me!?"

Seeing how she wasn't coming to him, Rick advanced on her and lashed out with another vine.

"You want friends, then stop trying to push people around!" he snarled back at her.

She skipped back and inhaled, before blowing another wave of fire at him. Rick swiftly darted out of the way, feeling quite angry now.

This fox is trying to bully others like myself into being with her.

If there was one thing Rick had always hated, it was a bully. He rushed at his target from the side and he performed a fast somersault, lashing his tail down on the zorua, who didn't have time to react before his leaves left a large gash in her side, eliciting a distressed scream from her.

"S-stop it! Stop it now!" She shrieked and desperately tried to strike Rick with her claws again. However, being familiar with her attack pattern, Rick foresaw the attack coming and he dodged, going under her and he then lashed his vines around her and started to squeeze. Being a snake, the action felt rather uncomfortably natural to him, though he was in such a temper that it didn't bother him enough at the time to stop.

The fox tried to scream again, but he was crushing the air out of her lungs and she instead gasped, trying to breathe as Rick angrily tightened his vines around her more.

It was only after she collapsed that he stopped and after his opponent was down, Rick came to realize what he had done and, feeling a measure of panic, he set his head against her chest. He was relieved that her heart was still beating.

Whew. I didn't kill her... but ugh... what came over me?

Rick was aware that it wasn't in his nature to be as ruthless as he had acted, even if he was facing a bully.

Draining energy from others has been something of a necessary evil for me up to this point... but did I really have to nearly kill her?

Looking the fox over briefly, Rick took a moment to gather a few leaves around the local area and he stanched the bleeding on her cuts as best he could. It wasn't something he owed her, but he was feeling guilty for his brutality.

Her desires were something I could sympathize with... it's simply her methods of getting friends are less admirable.

She woke up a couple minutes into Rick's treatment.

"Nnnngh... wh... what happened?" She groaned. Her voice had a different quality now that it wasn't so upset or angry. Rick paused, seeing that she seemed confused and considered what to tell her.

I wonder... is she simply another victim of whatever has been possessing everyone lately? If she is, she probably doesn't clearly remember attacking me.

"Hey there." he finally spoke, trying to be friendly, "You, uh... well, to be blunt, you attacked me and I was defending myself." He said, feeling a little nervous and awkward.

She looked in Rick's direction blearily and blinked.

"Wh-... who are you? What are you?" she sounded puzzled, and Rick wasn't terribly surprised by this reaction.

"My name's Rick. I'm... well, I've been told I'm a snivy. I know you're a zorua, but what's your name?"

She blinked again, clearly trying to wake herself up more from her dazed state of mind.

"Erm... I'm usually just called Zorua, but... erm... I do like the name Zoe..." she said, her expression looked a little shy.

"Okay Zoe." Rick said, giving her a friendly smile, "I guess you've just been wanting some friends out here in this forest?" He glanced around.

It does seem like someplace a bit lonely to be...

"Er... I... yes. I... I have wanted some friends, but... I'm... I'm too scared to really approach the local village." She admitted, "Did... did you say I attacked you?" again, she sounded confused.

"It's... not your fault." Rick said, his tone apologetic, "I'm sorry if you're really hurt. I... got carried away I guess."

Zoe shook her head a bit.

"I can't remember doing anything like that... I... I wouldn't do something like that... would I?" she said, sounding more confused and even a little scared.

"Like I said: it's not your fault." Rick assured her, "Don't mind if I ask you a different question?"

Zoe looked at him, listening.

"When I first saw you clearly, you... were using an illusion. You looked like a vulpix. How'd you get that particular look?"

She blinked in response to this and thought about it for a bit.

"... Oh. I, erm... it was a few years back. I only saw a vulpix once... they were traveling through this forest. I-I'm always too afraid to approach anyone so I hid from them. But..." Zoe blushed a bit, smiling timidly, "I... I thought the vulpix looked really pretty, so I've been remembering her appearance ever since. From there, it's not all that hard for me to make it an illusion from the memory. I even can remember how her voice sounded." She looked away, mumbling something else that Rick couldn't clearly hear.

So... she saw that vulpix years ago, and was simply using that memory to project an illusion? Wait a minute, Zoe said "they". Was someone else with them?

"Zoe, the vulpix you saw, she wasn't alone?"

Zoe looked at him again and shook her head.

"No, she wasn't. She had a riolu with her." Again, she blushed timidly, "They... I guess they were traveling partners, and like I said, they were traveling through this forest and I just watched them for a while." She then looked away again, looking rather pensive.

A riolu... traveling with a vulpix. Could that be...?

"Zoe... one last question... have you seen that riolu again recently?"

Zoe blinked and looked at Rick again, a little surprised.

"Actually, yes... yes I did. Very recently in this forest. Do you want me to show you where I last saw him?"