If you're reading this immediately after the update, I added some extra stuff to the previous chapter. Just so you know.
I watched a few clips of that old Master of Illusions movie, and I was astounded to realize that the Zorua there was… pretty big. Bigger than I expected. The illusions were somewhat physical, considering you could tug on the little guy's tail to pop it. Also forgot that.
In the first few weekdays since Ash's disembodied soul became a Zorua, Delia had to make a few calls. Considering his current condition, she needed to contact his teachers at the school so that Ash would still be too sick to enter. They already knew how awful the flu he got was, so it was easy to keep the illusion that it got worse. It wasn't even wrong, technically.
The elementary school understood and even gave him their well wishes to get better. They also went the extra mile in sending him homework by the bookload, and some online resources they could look up to make sure that he wouldn't miss out on much.
The school system in the country went through several reworks until they made their made their final decision. Although it remained a tradition for new trainers to begin their journeys at the ages of 10 or 12, it did not mean that they would be exempt from their schooling at any point.
With the help of the Internet, most trainers study through Internet cafes or PCs in Pokemon Centers and public libraries. They sent back their homework through the same mediums, and exams through similarly digital sources. Anyone with the resources could even fly back and forth between the schools and their current gym challenge, so transport was hardly ever an issue for people who found some success in their Pokemon journey.
Remote learning was, for the most part, the future everyone was waiting for. And no wonder, considering how many trainers in the past came home largely unequipped for higher learning. By all accounts, the school was already well-equipped to help teach a bedridden student. Overtly so, even.
Having said all that, she'd also heard that Gary made a big fuss about Ash's situation when he heard the news, but the school just let him rant. From what she remembered about what happened after, he'd even cried himself to sleep when he got home. Part of her wanted to tell him that Ash was fine and all, but 1, even she wasn't sure about that, and 2, they didn't want to risk blowing their cover.
Professor Oak, at the very least, helped him feel better about the situation. He even helped corroborate the news to her husband, who was still too busy working abroad to be properly informed and all that. She didn't want to keep him in the dark, of course, but she already told him about Ash the other week and didn't want him to come visit all of a sudden.
By that point, it was just trusting Ash enough to keep himself away from the windows and doors. Keep him from ever going outside. If Ash were capable of communicating normally, he'd call it lame.
And yet it was the only way to be totally sure while they monitored his situation on their end. Making sure he simply stayed at home was simple enough, and he would wait for his mother at the end of her shifts near the door anyway.
Which leads us to another thing.
Ash wasn't sure, but he'd felt like someone was constantly watching him since he became a Pokemon.
He remembered how it happened the first time around. When he woke up early in the morning, he saw something on the side of his face, in parts of his peripheral vision. It was a fuzzy thing, vaguely blurry, gouging a deep feeling of unease in his gut. Sounds of chuckling kept popping up when he tried chasing after the sounds, even when his mother was around the house.
It wasn't relevant to the homework he was trying to type in, which was a single-paragraph essay for his English class that was starting to get on his nerves. But it contributed to the feeling of paranoia that permeated the household.
Then again, it probably had something to do with the fox mask he found under his bed this one time. It disappeared as soon as he turned to look at something else, but it would also pop up in parts of the house he couldn't feasibly enter. That said, he never could get a feel of who or what exactly was watching him.
Anytime it did appear, a few tufts of pink fur seemed to fly away from the mask and disappear just as quickly, so he knew for certain that it had to be some kind of Pokemon. For all he knew, it could have been some kind of ghostly Jigglypuff that decided to stalk him. So of course, he barked at the mask the third time it appeared, accusing of it being exactly that.
When he did, however, the atmosphere dropped to such an extent that he could physically feel the temperatures drop. The mask appeared close to him after his insult, with a pink silhouette glowing around it. It gave him a look, and immediately after slammed a pie tin on his face like some cartoon character. His mother rushed after him after hearing her baked goods turn into a punchline, but the strange Pokemon was already long gone.
That incident made him realize that he may have struck a nerve, so he never brought it up again. He learned personally how Pokemon took their baths that day when his mother came by and saw him with all of the sticky pie stuff in his fur.
All things considered! Ash had really taken his transformation into a Zorua in stride. The Illusion powers were very nice, considering how versatile he found it to be. He poked his head out just long enough near one of the windows to see one of the kids he knew at school running around. It was the mayor's son if he recalled correctly, a spoiled jerk at that, so with a little ingenuity managed to make an illusion of a Spinarak pop up on his shoulder. The illusion popped as soon as he turned to look at it, but the look on his face and the way he managed to get a face full of hedge soon after was priceless.
Heck, he even learned just enough to conjure a tired version of himself using the computer. It was accurate enough that his mother, after a long day's work, tried to tell him off the computer screen and ended up phasing her arm through the illusion and giving herself a faceful of ghostly fox fur. This gave her another thousand-year stare that he was thankfully quick to snap her out of.
He even got away with doing all the things Pokemon would be expected to do and get spoiled like one. Like getting headpats, getting scritches behind his ears, and most surprisingly in his case, enjoying Pokemon food. He was also capable of learning and using Pokemon moves now, since he accidentally shot off a Scratch attack on one of the vases, so that was a definite plus.
The Scratch part, not the breaking expensive vase part. He was just glad his mom was so patient with him. He couldn't bear the thought of having a stricter mother when he had to deal with all of this.
A part of him should have felt some kind of shame in enjoying the Pokemon food so much, but he did take all of it in stride. As far as he was concerned, it was part and parcel the whole experience of being a Pokemon. It didn't change his mother's feelings on it, though, which he supposed was fair.
Ash was also old enough to understand the fact that he shouldn't go out much in his current state. If at all, considering that the Professor continuously stressed the fact that he may as well be the only living example of a Hisuian Zorua in the modern day. So it would be a pretty bad idea if he was let outside for any amount of time, even if it didn't change what he felt about it.
He wasn't sure how all of that would work while his body was just sitting in Professor Oak's lab, though. He might not be the most responsible student, but he valued his education. And until he mastered his illusion skills, or they fixed the issue of him being struck out of his human body, he'd be in a pretty tight spot.
Speaking of, being stuffed in the house all day meant that he didn't have anything else to do for the most part. He had the TV to himself, sure, and he even had the old game consoles with those games from when his parents were kids. But his illusions weren't quite good enough yet to control his fingers, and they were also a bit too transparent for his liking.
He was not even going to try and play video games without opposable thumbs.
The computer next to the staircase was perfectly fine, though, even if he had to angle the keyboard at just the right spot to make sure that his paws didn't overlap the keys. The mouse was a dud, but his father kept a USB touchpad for the days when he just wanted to lay back on the chair. So that's what he used.
He looked at the table on his side and realized another issue. Without opposable fingers, he wouldn't be able to hold a pencil very well. He tried using his mouth, but the writing style he put together looked awful and unreadable. This fox may have seen cartoon characters successfully write something down with just their mouths, but he's certain the animators never actually tried doing it themselves.
Sighing, he sat down with his butt on the desk. He rolled the pencil up and tried to maneuver the pencil with both of his paws. While it worked at first, it would either slip off his hands or make weird pointy jagged lines. Though he might simply not have the dexterity or experience to move it, it didn't change his feelings about it much.
Patience used up, he jumped off the desk and back on the chair to rest. And then he thought back to the bed incident, and the computer incident, and how he managed to make an illusionary clone of himself twice for both situations.
Each time was slightly different. The first time he'd made the clone of himself just above him and it poked his mother. The second time was just a statue staring at the computer screen and built transparently. He wasn't sure if it had his usual Pokemon-ish features.
But what if he managed to make the clone around himself instead? He knew that if he exerted enough effort, he'd be able to make an illusion physically touch things around the world. He remembered his mom saying that much back in that first day, or at least he thought she did.
Jumping off the chair, he closed his and imagined himself wearing his day clothes. Then, with a little effort, projected the image on his Zorua body. And then things went a little weird.
Muscle memory tried to move his front paws but couldn't get them to. Tilting his head, he envisioned the illusion do some squats
Opening his eyes, he found himself standing on his two feet again after several days of being on the floor. Just like that, he was himself again. His jaw dropped, and he'd run towards the bathroom mirror to inspect himself.
Nothing seemed terribly off, in fact, he looked just the same as he remembered himself to be. But the closer he looked, the more off it started to seem. It was all too perfect, the hair on his head too static, and the eyes on his face glowing an ominous yellow.
And, as he'd noticed, a fluffy white tail was poking out of his tailbone, wagging constantly despite the physique difference. If he was any more observant, he would even notice the red and white streaks on his hair, more obvious leftovers from his Zorua form.
He opened his mouth and closed it. Squinting at the reflection., he tried to say his name.
"Ash Ketchum." The boy repeated to the reflection. What came out, however, was not Ash Ketchum, but instead a low growl. He heard a sound, and seeing to the side he saw the fox mask again. Hopping back in surprise, he tripped on some shampoo that spilled on the floor and fell to the floor.
His tail got caught on the hamper, and as he tried to push himself back up, he pulled on his tail by accident. With a pop, he turned back to normal, and he was suddenly several feet smaller again. An empty box suddenly decided to fall over him as well as a towel and some soap boxes, making for quite a mess.
The magnitude of what happened the last few minutes slowly dawned on him, and the boy groaned.
"I should probably experiment with that more…" Ash dizzily summed up. He wouldn't acknowledge the giggles around him, though. Or at least he'd try not to.
As he moved to get up and try to fix everything, he heard the front door opening and the sounds of footsteps rapidly approaching the bathroom. Accepting his fate, the Zorua simply lied down in defeat.
More time had passed, and it was finally a Saturday.
In the early morning, the Professor invited them to a room in his laboratory where he'd kept everyone else from entering. Within it was Ash's body, sleeping on the bed prepared for him. While Ash had several days to mull the concept over, he still couldn't keep himself from awkwardly staring at himself when he saw his body on the bed so still and lifeless.
Delia brought over her son as the Professor had asked and sat down on one of the benches. Already sitting down there was Daisy, who had essentially been conscripted to be one of their only confidants. She waved at the teenage girl with a smile, and Daisy waved back.
"Ah, Delia, it's good to see you." Professor Oak greeted her, for once having the trademark smile on his face instead of the grimace he'd been holding for the past week. He was sitting down on the other side of the bed at a desk, looking over a laptop computer.
On the screen was the famous Agatha of the Indigo League Elite 4 on a video call. She was an old flame of his, and his son's godmother as it turned out to be. As the oldest active member of the organization, she garnered a lot of seniority and respect over the decades, as well as in her own private research projects towards ghost-type Pokemon and the supernatural.
The Professor stood up and turned around, gesturing to the laptop screen. "Agatha, meet Delia Ketchum, the boy's mother. We're talking to each other through a private network that's about as secure as you could get with modern technology, so you needn't worry about any interference."
He pointed towards Ash. "As you can guess, she's holding the boy himself around her arms. The Zorua, that is."
Smiling courteously, the mother stood up and bowed. The Zorua tried to bow as well but botched it midway and struggled to stay on. For the most part, Delia ignored this gaffe on his part beyond giving him a glance.
"It's very nice to meet you, ma'am. I've heard a lot of things about you from my father." Many of which weren't particularly flattering, but Agatha didn't need to know that.
Delia walked to the other side of the bed and sat down, letting the older woman on the computer screen look at her son a little better.
"A Hisuian Zorua, just like you told me on the phone…" She noted. Even past the fact that they could only see her through a computer screen, it was as if she was looking at him all over. As a result, Ash had scooted in closer to his mother's embrace, feeling a sudden chill.
"You must be Redmond's grandchild, then. I can see the resemblance." The Ghost-type elite smirked, giving a side-eye towards the comatose body on the bed. "Just as feisty as he was when he was a lad himself. And a real bite too, I suppose."
"I would ask why Sammy here didn't just take some samples to try and find a solution himself, but he already told me he didn't want to do tests on something completely out of his depth. It's not like his body turned into the Pokemon, after all, oh no." In the middle of her spiel, she appeared to be eating a slice of shortcake.
"He had the luck to have his spirit turn into one instead! I can't fathom how that even works, nor would I even attempt to process the sheer lack of sense it makes…" She put a thoughtful finger to her brow. "Though considering our research into the Distortion World and the afterlife, I'm more amazed that nothing similar has happened yet so far."
"Let's just cut to the chase, then. I don't know how any of this works, nor do I think any of my hypotheses would ever amount to anything." Her smile turned into a frown. "For all I know, there's not a single chance that Ash could ever go back to normal again. But even you should know that Zorua and Zoroark inspire such paranoia for a reason."
"Though sparsely recorded, I do believe that there would be plenty of them disguised among us, and suspicion still runs rampant in more rural areas. If ever we do not find a solution, you should still have alternatives to work with in the future." She thumped her trademark cane on the floor loudly, and the audio crackled as a result.
The Zorua looked down, dispirited. Delia for her part had a focused look on her face, on the other hand, even as she tried to comfort her vulpine son in her arms.
"However! That doesn't mean all hope is lost. If you're wondering where I am, I had the foresight to take a plane ride to Jubilife City just the other day. I'm inside the local Trainer's School library, near its history section." She swiveled her office chair to the side, showing the neatly stacked set of books and scrolls on a table. Returning to the camera, she gave a thin smile.
"I asked for special private use of the Academy's library resources on this project over the weekend, and with my cousin's vouching, I managed to make it in." She sipped on a cup of coffee. "They have resources going back several hundred years, you know. Even going past the first foreign settlers from outside of Sinnoh."
"…That's all well and good, Agatha, but why are you they letting you eat a slice of cake, then? The last time I was there, they wouldn't even let me eat the sandwich I brought over." Professor Oak's eyebrow furrowed, grumbling under his breath.
"Oh, this little thing?" She brought the plate of cake up to camera level, grinning widely. "I just asked. Don't recall you being very good at that yourself, Oak." The old woman cackled, laughing at her inside joke. The Professor for his part maintained the straight look on his face, only rolling his eyes in response.
Snickering still, Agatha paused for a moment. She looked to her side and nodded. "Ah, right. Rowan…" She stood up from her chair, letting another person sit down on the table. After bowing, the gentleman sat down firmly.
"Samuel Oak, it pleases me to see you again, though even in these strange circumstances." The visage of Professor Rowan appeared on screen, and Oak's eyes lit up in recognition.
"Professor Rowan! It's been years since the last convention, hasn't it?" Samuel Oak excitedly hopped back on the chair, having stood up earlier to tinker with his phone a bit.
Although he'd been speaking through video call with his fellow Professors over the years, Professor Rowan had preferred not to participate in most of those conversations. They hadn't physically spoken to each other in years, as a matter of fact. The duties they had in their respective regions had strictly locked them down, for the most part.
Smiling, the normally stoic Professor Rowan had a look of contentment on his face. "It's good to see you too, old friend. I was doing a lecture in the Trainers' School regarding the nature of Evolutions when I bumped into her on my way home. I'd heard from her then that you had a case of a rare Hisuian Zorua in your hands."
He took off his glasses to polish them. "Now, imagine my surprise when I learned that the Zorua was once a human being, and but a boy at that. The pictures you sent did not disappoint; I assure you."
Chuckling lightly, the older Professor took a look at a paper in his hands and skimmed through it. "My ancestor, Kamado, had several bad run-ins with wild Zoroark in the past. He was a headstrong leader who made very rash decisions in the past, sometimes to Jubilife Town's benefit, and others not quite."
"I bring him up because, during my research, many of the historical records they'd left here in the library portrayed him as such. My great-grandfather spoke plenty of him during my youth as well, you see, many times scathing, but even he understood the hard decisions he had to make. Yet he assured me that the many mistakes he'd made over his lifetime he would also come to regret."
He coughed into his fist. "And more importantly, because I believe he was gifted a certain painting during his tenure as commander that you may have seen already…"
Professor Rowan reached down and under the desk, pulling up a familiar-looking painting of a Zoroark pack surrounded by men and women, and presenting it to the camera. Ash jumped up and off Delia's arms after seeing the painting, and growled, surprising her. Professor Rowan for his part had the decency to look somewhat sheepish.
"I apologize if that image had distressed you in any way, but when I heard from Agatha that Samuel told me that he had given you a brief lecture on the history of your species, I took the initiative to help in her research as well." He coughed into his hand.
"We had to wade through several encyclopedias and journals made over the years, some of which I believe you have copies of in your office library as well. Most of the information was obsolete physical reports made before major advancements in technology, but moreover, we made an effort to find references to young Ash's current condition. See if there were alternative literary sources, legends, or stories pertaining to his current condition."
The Professor on-screen returned to his usual stoic look. "Now, I do believe we have wasted enough of your time already. We'll let you know if our research would bear any breakthroughs." Samuel gave Rowan a non-commital salute,
As he was about to close the window, Professor Rowan suddenly spoke up again. "Ah, please hold on a little longer, Samuel. I had a thought a few minutes earlier that passed my mind while we had our conversation."
Professor Rowan cupped his chin with his right hand in contemplation. He opened his eyes a minute later, snapping his fingers.
"…Pardon me for asking me a favor of you like this, old friend, but would you mind if I ask young Ash over there for something?"
"Hm? Ah, certainly. Is this still related to his condition, might I ask?" To that, Professor Rowan shook his head.
"Not necessarily, but you could see it that way. I see an opportunity with him, Samuel. For most of human history, the notion that Pokemon and humans could communicate had largely been a pipe dream. And yet, plenty of examples have gone and passed since, most often using Telepathy like with Legendary Pokemon such as the highly prized Eon Duo, as well as certain recorded examples from the Riolu and Ralts lines."
He continued. "It is extremely rare, hence, for a human being to actually understand Pokemon speech as it is rather than having to derive context clues from their behavior and mood. Other times, they'd learned how to read and write, most often with Psychic types from the Abra line. Many more examples had to communicate through such trickeries like telepathy or a portable whiteboard and marker."
Professor Rowan brought up the whiteboard and marker example as there was a murder case several years ago regarding a poisoned painter. It involved a timid, beret-wearing Gardevoir as the defendant in the murder case for her dead trainer. Though not capable of human speech, she used both a portable sketchbook and some limited telepathic skills to speak for herself in the courtroom.
She won her case thanks to the final decision of the Jury. The Defense performed rather admirably, and even audaciously accused an already imprisoned attorney for setting up the whole farce. For what it was worth, said attorney already had plenty of contact with the painter prior and had a rather strong reaction to the decision they'd made.
While there were some concerns over the legal precedents that the trial would bring thanks to the police rather rashly springing a legal case on a Pokemon, this concern was largely moot. No other tamed Pokemon had come into suspicion for murder since. And if present in a crime scene, they certainly did not serve as defendant.
Or at least, they hoped there wouldn't be any more such examples.
This was all noted down in Daisy's Civil Law textbook, which she very quickly closed with a sigh. She had borrowed the book from a friend of hers and had chuckled rather loudly when she heard the two specific examples being given by the Sinnoh Professor.
Her grandfather had looked at her oddly for a moment and shrugged. He'd noticed that she was tuning out the conversation the moment they'd begun rambling, so he couldn't blame her for that much. They were supposed to finish the conversation a few minutes ago, anyway.
"…Well, going back to the topic. While certainly, the lad is currently a rather petite Zorua, I do believe he still counts."
Professor Rowan nodded. "If, say, we ever reach the point where simply going back and forth between his body became an easy feat for him to achieve, then we might reach a breakthrough in Pokemon-to-human communication. And I don't mean artificial Pokemon like Porygon or Rotom, who oftentimes gain the ability to speak human language innately."
"That's assuming, of course, he doesn't simply understand Pokemon even in his human state. His spiritual body still went through quite the transformation, you know!" Agatha shouted from a distance, her voice echoing through the library. Rowan nodded once more, looking to the part of the room where Agatha had shouted from.
"Well, what do you say, Ash? Do you mind sating this old man's curiosity?" Professor Oak asked Ash, who was sitting on the floor curiously. A nondescript illusion idly floated above him. It had a face. And it looked as bored as he was.
The Zorua looked at the two Professors and barked in approval. He hadn't seen or spoken to very many Pokemon, so he may as well give it a try while he was still here. His time at the Summer Camp was very nice, but he never actually talked to the Pokemon they let them pet or groom.
"Very good! Thank you very much, Samuel. This would be a fantastic milestone on the nature of human to pokemon relationships." He mulled over something in his head.
"…I have considered that cataloging these as you went would be fantastic, but also made the realization that publishing the results would be impossible considering his current state of affairs." His hand went to his chin, clutching it lightly. "But I don't particularly mind. As long as the lad could make some friends in the process."
A few more moments passed, and both groups finally realized that neither side had any more to say. Professor Rowan, who was still staring blankly at the screen, decided to end the call himself with a sigh.
"Very well then. I suppose that was enough time used up for all of us. We'll send you a message if we make any such breakthroughs."
And with that, the call had ended.
Sometime during lunch, Ash was sitting at a table. His mother was sitting on the other end, eating hers peacefully. Despite her misgivings, and the fact that she was feeding it to him herself back home, Ash was eating off a bowl of Pokemon Food.
The Professor was thinking over ways he could introduce a Pokemon to him without relying on a newly caught Pokemon from just outside over in Route 1. The fact some of them weren't guaranteed to be capable of sapience unless they stayed around humans for long enough was clear on his, head but he wasn't sure how else he could go through with it.
"I don't think we can test him speaking to other Pokémon without actually having a Pokémon to test with. Nor do I want him to just meet the Pokemon I keep in the ranch either. They might be too rowdy and too old to relate with." The Professor muttered. He frowned.
"The last batch of Pallet Town newbies left town just a few days ago, so I can't use the standard Kanto starters either…" Professor Oak closed his eyes in deep thought.
"Then again… There was this Pichu I caught a while back. Arcanine sniffed him chewing on the electrical cables around the family house a few weeks ago."
The Professor went to a case full of Pokeballs and pulled out a standard red and white. The main distinguishing feature was the presence of a small yellow sticker in the shape of a thunderbolt adorning the top.
"He's mostly been cooperative so far, helping around the lab. Though he is pretty mean to anyone else handling that isn't a Pokemon themselves, or me for that matter, why don't you give a try speaking with him yourself, Ash, while we figure out what to do with you?" The Zorua took a moment to process that and nodded.
Professor Oak lifted the Pokeball over the table, releasing the Pichu inside. The Pichu jumped out of the ball with vigor, raging for a fight. It immediately shot a Thunder Shock towards one of the couches, the lightning bolt charring one of the sides. Realizing its mistake, it blinked up at the Professor, wondering why he'd been brought out if not for a battle or errand.
Scratching the back of his head, Professor Oak harumphed to get the Pichu's attention. "Pichu, if you don't mind, could you talk to Zorua here for a bit? He's new here, and I figured that someone like you could, uh. Make friends. I guess."
The Pichu gave him a confused look and twitched his head left and right for a bit until it turned around. Ash jumped back, surprised at the newcomer. His fur had stilled, and his tail had stopped wagging after seeing the Pichu annihilate the sofa cover, having activated his flight or flight instincts.
And yet, the Pichu seemed to smile brightly at him, walking over to the Zorua pup. Ash had tilted his head when the Pichu sat down next to him, raising a brow so to speak. "So, what're you in for?" The Pichu asked Ash, its head bobbing up and down to some invisible rhythm.
Ash, realizing that he actually can speak Pokemon, had a wide-eyed look. Ignoring his excitement, however, he could only shrug to the question, giving the Professor a look to confirm his suspicions. The Professor's eyebrows raised in surprise and took a chair to the side of the wall to let the two of them continue their conversation unimpeded.
As for Ash, he was legitimately amazed that the Professor's hypothesis was correct, but considering what he'd seen and done at home, he wasn't sure if he really should've been. Considering that he was a Pokemon for a full week as well, he wasn't sure what to feel over the fact that he hadn't interacted with anyone else but his mother, the Professors, and Daisy since. It was a strange feeling.
Pichu hummed. "You know, you're a weird-looking Zorua. You know anything about that?" Ash shrugged to the question, merely looking over at him.
Pichu's face scrunched up in confusion over his noncommital responses, then suddenly pulled back as if in realization. "Oh, ohh. I can see the problem now, you're newly hatched, right? I can understand that. No wonder the Prof's making me talk to you…"
Pichu nodded. "The big guy caught me a few weeks ago since he caught me eating the wires at his house. I've been here ever since, basically, and I've… Tried my best to be a considerate guest. I guess. Told me that he'd release me after he got what he was after, whatever that was…" Pichu looked over to Ash again. "What about you?"
As for Ash, he wasn't sure if he knew how to speak, so he kept his mouth shut in the meantime and shrugged. His social skills could use some improvement, even back at school, he realized.
"You're just gonna keep leaving me hanging, huh? I guess that's fine." Pichu sighed, scratching the back of his head. "As long as you get used to talking with other people than those guys, I guess." He pointed to the girls speaking with each other on the other side of the table, and over to the Professor awkwardly staring at him.
"I'm only going to guess that the older lady's your owner, right? She's been drifting her gaze towards you now and then, kind of like she was your mom or something…" The Pichu's ear twitched, as he looked at Zorua. Realizing that he'd finally made a sound, low yips or not, the Pichu grinned and continued talking to him.
In the middle of the one-sided conversation, Professor Oak relaxed his pose to rest his eyes. Immediately after, he received a text message, the vibration feature waking him up after almost actually falling asleep.
Opening his phone, he realizes the message was from Agatha. He furrowed his brow, and read the message.
"Toss the kid into his body and let God sort him out. I'm dead serious."
A few more seconds had passed before the Professor scrambled to make a response. As he tried to, another text had been sent.
"Oh, and make sure to do it as forcefully as you can. Far as I'm concerned, it won't work unless he accidentally uses his powers."
A beat.
Even considering the passing conversation in the bedroom, he still wasn't sure if he had the guts to do what was being asked of him. With his mouth wavering, he waited for anything else but the request she'd made.
"…I know you're hesitating. Just do it."
The Professor looked around the room over and over, even as he listened intently to the occasional bits of speech from the two Pokemon on the table. He waited intently for an opening to appear, holding his breath as he did so.
Noticing an opening, the Professor snatched the ghostly fox kit from the table, even as it yelped in surprise. He ran towards the bed holding the young body in state, and, with great difficulty, pushed Ash's vulpine self down his unconscious body.
Pichu, surprised, ran towards the bedroom, almost tripping over a piece of paper. Having seen the whole situation himself, he looked at the body on the bed and tried to look for the shy, if weird-looking, Zorua friend he made.
Then he realized another thing. That weird, white Zorua had disappeared into the boy's body.
Barely a few moments later, the boy started to breathe and coughed loudly. With a deep sigh of relief from both of the adults later, he opened his eyes.
"Nngh… Mom…?"
I had too much fun writing down that legal case section.
It was mostly padding and world-building, with a pinch of obvious plot reference. I was wondering how the Law worked in the Pokemon world when most Pokemon were intelligent and sapient.
Think the last section needs some adjustments, so I'll be sure to fix it in a few.