Rei slowly opened his eyes as he took in the sight of his headquarters. This time, Akari wasn't there to wake him up, so he didn't know if he had overslept, or he'd just woken up earlier than usual.
Then he remembered he had the day off and that the girl would most likely not come.
He sighed with relief as he closed his eyes once again, not wanting the sleepiness to go away.
That managed to work for some time, until he felt a certain ball of fur stir on top of him. "Good morning, Zoroark." Eevee whispered.
The ghost type simply groaned. The normal type let out a chuckle as the room fell silent once again.
"Did you... hear what I said last night?"
"I heard you say something, but I didn't understand you. Why?"
"Oh! Nothing. It was nothing..."
And she didn't talk anymore. Rei thought that was weird, but he simply shrugged and went back to trying to sleep.
He was pretty sure he managed to do that for a few hours more before he once again opened his eyes and found out it was not as early as before, since the sunlight peeked through the windows.
Trying to enjoy the moment for as long as possible, knowing that it was most likely never going to repeat, he didn't move at all, feeling the now lessened pain of his wounds slowly coming back.
He sighed, knowing that he wouldn't fall asleep again. He looked around, seeing Luxio and Cyndaquil on each of his sides while Eevee was on him.
This is gonna be annoying when it starts to get hot... He chuckled to himself.
Not wanting to wake anyone up, Rei silently began thinking about his talk with Scar yesterday, but was interrupted before he could even begin
"Good morning again, Zoroark..." Eevee groaned.
"Good morning, Eevee. How did you sleep?"
"Pretty good. How about you? You know... With all that happened yesterday?"
"I slept like a log. Didn't even bother worrying about that." He chuckled. "Also, I chose my human name as my nickname. What do you think?"
"Well, I definitely like it more than just 'Zoroark'!" The normal type laughed. "Alright, Rei. Want to stay like this some more? There's probably not going to be a lot more opportunities like this in the future!"
"Yeah, that's what I've been doing. You don't know how much I needed this sleep..."
"Sure you did."
Slowly, Luxio and Cyndaquil fluttered their eyes open, groaning and yawning respectively.
"Is it time to wake up already?" The fire type asked.
"We can stay like this for some time more, if you guys would like." Eevee replied, looking at Rei.
"I mean, what time is it? Because I don't want to miss today!" Luxio exclaimed, looking out the window.
"Beauregard won't let Beautricia come with us until the afternoon, and I doubt we have slept that long." Eevee laughed.
"Whatever the time, I'm starving. We should go and buy some berries or something for breakfast." Rei said, standing up and stretching.
"Shouldn't you tell us what you learned yesterday first?"
Cyndaquil's words snapped Rei back to reality. He had completely forgotten to tell his friends about his conversation with Scar.
"I... should, yeah."
He sat back down onto the floor as the three Pokémon surrounded him, eager to listen.
With a last sigh, Rei told them who Scar was, what he found out, and what he thought. He didn't know for how long he was there explaining, but he knew that by the end of it, he felt a bit better.
The faces of his friends weren't that of 'feeling good', however. Especially Eevee's.
"You think that... your egg may not have been laid by your mother?" The fire type said, to which he weakly nodded.
"I'm trying to hold on to the hope of everything just being a huge misunderstanding, but... it grows weaker by the second."
He looked down. "What if it turns out that the family I thought was mine is not?" Rei added, ghost of tears in his eyes.
"Rei, that's not true." Eevee interrupted. "What if they found your egg somewhere? Why does it matter? Do you love your pack? Do you love your sister? Heck, do you love your father?"
"Yes! O-Of course I do..."
"Then what else do you need?"
"I-..." Rei looked away. "Maybe... you're right."
"Ocko, family is not who laid your egg. Family is the ones that hold you dear, even if they aren't blood related." Luxio reassured. "And I would know! You guys are my family after all!"
"Honestly, I'm starting to want to go back to the cave just to ask him what this is all about..." Rei sighed before letting out a chuckle. "Thankfully that's not gonna happen anytime soon! But thank you, guys. You're the best."
"Of course!" The three said.
"Now, how about we leave these sad moments behind and go get some breakfast, eh?"
"YEAH!" The three exclaimed again at the same time.
"Come on, let's go to the Wallflower. Maybe they'll serve us something there." Rei said, casting his illusion and grabbing his cap.
He exited his headquarters and looked around, with no sign of Akari anywhere.
Is it weird I'm feeling relieved and sad at the same time?
"So you chose to use the human name you made up as your nickname?"
Rei and his team were getting some smoke bombs from the shop when Luxio's question interrupted his thinking.
"He did, yeah." Eevee filled in for him.
"Well, I think it's better! Having a nickname is better than just using your species name, in my opinion." Cyndaquil commented.
"You want one?"
"Well... I don't know."
"Think about it and tell us when you've got one!" Eevee smiled.
"Oh, hi Rei!"
Akari's shout brought Rei back to reality. He turned to look at the girl and he saw that she and her Pikachu hadn't come alone.
"Hello!"
It was yet another Pokémon Rei hadn't seen yet, riding on Akari's shoulder, opposite Pikachu, who seemed a little bit tired.
"What are you doing here?" She asked them when she was next to Rei, taking a look at the smoke bombs he carried. "Smoke bombs, eh? They are very useful for escaping from wild Pokémon, am I right?"
Rei nodded and then arched a brow, looking at the new Pokémon. Akari seemed to notice and she gave a smile while looking at the Pokémon. "You're wondering who's this? Rei, this is Mime Jr., our newest incorporation to the team ever since a few hours ago!"
"Hi!" Mime Jr. said.
"Hello there!" Eevee greeted as he jumped down onto the ground, followed by the rest of the Pokémon introducing themselves.
After that, Akari rubbed the back of her head. "I know we were supposed to be resting today, but I woke up very early and felt like I needed to run a marathon! So today we set off towards the Fieldlands pretty early and while we were there, this little one seemed to take a liking to us and decided to come along!"
"She gave me food and she was nice!" Mime Jr. added.
A groan escaped from Pikachu's mouth. "You guys don't know how happy I am to be a babysitter..."
"Has he been giving you a lot of problems?" Eevee questioned.
"Ohh, what's this?"
Without even realizing it, Mime Jr. had climbed onto the counter and had grabbed a small blue bag with some sort of face drawn on it.
It was then when the small psychic type tripped on something and began falling down. Pikachu widened his eyes and swiftly managed to catch the Pokémon and the bag, though not without him falling onto his back.
"That was so fun! Let's do it again!" Mime Jr. giggled while Pikachu let out a deep sigh.
"Does this answer your question?" He simply said, looking at the normal type.
"How long have you been looking out for him?" Luxio asked.
"Since a few hours after I woke up."
"You must be exhausted." Cyndaquil said sympathetically.
"You can't even begin to imagine."
"Well, as you can see, Mime Jr. is a bit... energetic." Akari spoke, unknowing of the conversation. "Pikachu has been kindly taking care of him when I haven't been able to, and I think he deserves a bit of a break, doesn't he?"
The girl then looked at Rei. "I was wondering... Would you want to do something today? I know that you'll be taking care of Beautricia later in the day, but I wanted to ask if you maybe wanted to do something together after lunch while you do that?"
Rei thought about it. He didn't have any plans for the day, so he could perfectly go along with whatever Akari wanted to do. Hopefully it wouldn't be something too intense.
Rei nodded his head. "Yes? Great! Let's say... how about we meet at the town's main gate after you pick Beautricia? I have some matters to attend to now, but I'll have all the afternoon free. Do you think that's good?"
Rei nodded again.
"Perfect! Now..." Akari took a scarf from her satchel and handed it to Rei. "This is to replace the scarf you used as a bandage yesterday."
Rei muttered a thank you and put on the scarf.
"Now, see you later! Pikachu, Mime Jr., let's go!"
Once the psychic type had left the weird sac back on the counter, both Pokémon climbed onto Akari's shoulders as she walked away, waving at Rei.
"Poor Pikachu..." Eevee sighed.
"Yeah. He's acting like a big brother. That must be hard." Luxio chuckled.
"Yeah. Well, what are we doing until we pick Beautricia up, Poké-human?" Cyndaquil asked Rei.
As he handed the money to the store clerk, Rei smiled.
He knew exactly what they were going to do.
"We're training some more." Rei simply stated as they arrived at the training grounds.
"Why did I know you were thinking of this?"
"We learned so much last time! I want to train again!" Luxio exclaimed.
"Yeah we did! You evolved the fight after it!" Cyndaquil chuckled.
"Do you think that if we train with Zisu again some of us will evolve again?" Eevee laughed.
"We'll have to see. Also we should go somewhere hidden so I can practice too." Rei replied, seeing the captain with her Pokémon, training. Though there was something different now.
Scar was training there too.
Rei's friends noticed it as well. "Ocko, what did you talk about yesterday?" Luxio said.
"He thought that he should try and be less of an asshole to other Pokémon. I guess he was serious."
It was then that everyone noticed the four and stopped what they were doing. "Look who it is! Hello there, Rei!" The captain waved. "Are you perhaps here to train?"
The boy nodded. "I see that quelling Kleavor wasn't enough for you, eh? Well, let's get to it at once!"
Zisu looked at her Pokémon, or more specifically, at Scar before her eyes fell back on us.
"And hey! Looks like someone is in a good mood today and decided to be with us!" Zisu exclaimed, obviously referring to Scar.
As Rei got closer to the captain, Luxray gave a look to him, which he tried to ignore as Zisu was speaking to him.
"It seems you have just three Pokémon with you today, so I suppose you can choose who you'd like your partners to fight against." She then gave the boy a smile. "And it doesn't look like you're going to end up attacked today." She added with a hearty laugh.
"I'm fighting-!"
"Yeah, we already know who you're going to fight." Eevee interrupted Luxio before he could finish his sentence.
"Looks like your admirer evolved after your teaching! How does that feel, huh?"
"Shut it, Honchkrow."
"Come on, quit it! We should do our job and not waste time with stuff like this!" Ambipom interrupted.
"Aw, stop being such a killjoy!" The flying type laughed before looking at Cyndaquil. "Since your Pikachu friend is not here, I'll be your sparring partner for today. Sounds good?"
"Sure!" The fire type replied with a smile.
"I believe we have a rematch pending?" Eevee told the other normal type.
"You aren't winning against me, missy." Ambipom replied with a laugh.
"Alright, so if the pairs are set, let's get to fighting, shall we?" Zisu almost yelled. She then looked at Scar. "And you get some rest. I think you've earned it."
The Zoroark gave Rei a quick glance before nodding and sitting down, closing his eyes for a quick nap.
"Alright, are you ready, Rei?" The captain asked him, to which he nodded.
All the Pokémon began their fights, all except Luxray, who said something to Luxio before getting closer to the disguised Zoroark. "I don't know what you did or how you did it, but you somehow turned that Zoroark into a completely different Pokémon over the course of one night." He said. "And dare I say he's not as much of a prick as we thought."
Rei simply shrugged and gave a little smirk. With nothing else to say, the training began, with both Zisu and Rei occasionally shouting orders and tips at the fighters.
By the end of it, everyone was tired, but in good spirits after fighting against Zisu's Pokémon. Rei's team certainly felt like they were stronger, something he knew he was neglecting himself.
After saying their goodbyes, Rei began thinking. "What's a good spot for training without the risk of being seen?" He thought out loud.
"Not the beach, definitely." Eevee replied. "Maybe somewhere along the path towards the Fieldlands?"
"Maybe we could take it and turn somewhere in between to a wooded area, for example!" Cyndaquil suggested.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I saw a lot of places that could work as a hidden training spot!" Luxio added.
"Alright, let's do that then."
The group walked away from the village until they came across a suitable detour that could lead them to a small forest patch that served as concealment.
Only when Rei made sure there were no humans anywhere in sight and that he hadn't been followed did he uncast the illusion, sighing in relief.
"Alright team. We have some time until we go with Akari, so I think it's time to practice some battling." Rei said. "Does anyone want to give it a go or are you too tired?"
He then smirked. "Or maybe too scared?"
"Well... I've got something pending with you from that time with your sister..." Eevee began.
"How many rematches do you have pending?" Cyndaquil asked.
"Come on, it's just those two!" The normal type laughed.
"So it's me versus you, the rematch of the century?" Rei chuckled.
"Yeah, but this time you're not having the advantage of me not knowing you know Swift!"
As the two prepared for a friendly match, Rei couldn't be happier. Finally, he was going to fight. Being a human was cool and all, but always being one was not. That's why he was so happy to finally have a regular fight with his friend, though he suspected he wasn't going to win this time, even if Eevee only had normal type moves.
"Are you ready?" Eevee asked.
"Whenever you are!"
And just like that, she zipped across the field and threw herself against Rei, who barely reacted before she jumped back.
With a wheeze, he stood up and chuckled. "Well, I see Zisu's training is paying off, isn't it?"
"Well, I have to thank you for taking us there!" She cockily replied.
She tried to use a Quick Attack again, but missed when Rei used Swift and sent Eevee back onto the ground rolling.
"Didn't you know a surprise doesn't work twice?"
She stood up and looked at him. "I was just testing you. I can see you haven't forgotten anything, huh?"
"With my father being my teacher? Not even if I wanted to."
The battle resumed, attacks being fired from both sides. Rei had to admit, the only reason he wasn't already on the ground was because Eevee had to use regular tackles instead of the move, and even then, he was struggling to keep up with the smaller Pokémon.
Every time she got too close, Rei sent her away with a Snarl, and then tried to use Swift on her.
After some time, however, the tactic wore off and Eevee managed to dodge the Snarl and hit him without sustaining too much damage.
After a long ten minutes of fighting, they decided to call it a draw and end it there.
"Yeah, just as I was about to win..." Rei laughed.
"We both know that the only reason you aren't on the ground is because you're a ghost type!" She teased. "I really should find a way to learn moves of other types."
"Maybe we could ask Zisu?" Cyndaquil chimed in.
"Yeah, we could try that, but not now. Speaking of fighting, I really want to train more. We should come back from time to time."
"Maybe we could come here again tonight?" Luxio eagerly suggested. "Then I could finally beat you in a fight!"
"Depends on what we do today. And remember, tomorrow we'll have to get up soon, so we can't train for too long!"
"Yeah yeah, I know."
"Okay, now that this is settled, can we go eat? I'm starving from all this training..."
"Yeah. I'm sure it can't be too long before we have to meet with Akari." The Zoroark stood up, reapplying his illusion. "Let's go team."
Having spent most of the morning already, the three headed back to the village, ready to eat something after today's training, especially Rei's team, who devoured their own food plates before Rei was even halfway through his.
Finally, after the start of the day had been so full of activity, it was time to go and get Beautricia from Beauregard, possibly someone's favourite activity of the day.
"Mighty electrical hero!" The Wurmple yelled the moment she saw Luxio.
"Beautricia!" He yelled back, not caring at all that she had called him that.
While the two said hello to each other, Beauregard couldn't help but smile. "An amazing relationship they have, isn't it?" He chuckled.
"Very well, a deal is a deal. Please, take care of Beautricia for me, okay? And remember to tell me some of your secrets about how you take care of your Pokémon! I'll be waiting for you right here. Have fun!" The guard told Rei.
"I'm so excited to go with you! What kind of adventures do you plan to live today?" Beautricia asked, full of excitement.
"Not many. It's our day off." Eevee replied.
"That's great! I have to admit, Beauregard is cool and all, but standing there for the whole day is kind of boring... I'm so jealous of you going out and fighting powerful foes!"
"You should try and come with us someday!" Luxio laughed. "Maybe next time we have to quell another Kleavor!"
"Oh, Arceus, no! I couldn't do that even if I tried! Saying I wished I could do it doesn't mean I wishto doit! Someone as powerful as Kleavor would knock me out in an instant!"
"Then you'll have to train!" Cyndaquil chimed in. "Does Beauregard take you to train?"
"From time to time, yeah."
"Then you have nothing to worry about! You'll become the strongest Wurmple in the whole world soon!" Luxio smiled.
"Oh, but I'll never be as strong as you, almighty electrical hero~"
Luxio only looked away with a dumb smile, prompting everyone to chuckle.
It wasn't long before they arrived back at the main gate, where they saw Akari speaking to Volo, the merchant seemingly having a lively conversation with the girl.
She was the first one to notice Rei approaching. "Hello there Rei!"
Volo turned to look at him and then smiled. "Hello!"
Rei looked confused seeing Volo here. If he was a merchant, why wasn't he... doing merchant things everytime they found him?
"Volo was just asking me about my newest partner." The girl said.
"Hi again!" Mime Jr. waved.
"Akari told me both of you are having a day off today." Volo told the boy. "Enjoy it while it lasts. Those aren't too common for members of the Survey Corps!"
He turned around, ready to leave. "I have to go now. A day full of work awaits me!" As he said that, he patted Rei on his back with a smile before walking away.
And with that, he disappeared into the horizon. Rei simply frowned with his face full of confusion.
Why is this guy so... weird? He's always busy. I've never talked with him for more than a few minutes at once.
"Well, leaving that talk aside." Akari brought him back to reality. "Are you ready to go? I want to show you a place near the Fieldlands that you may like."
The boy arched a brow, but nodded. "Follow me. It's a bit far, but it's worth it, really!" The girl exclaimed, about to get out of the village.
"Hey! You two!"
A shout interrupted them as they turned around to see the medic from the last day, Alec, running towards their direction.
He stopped next to them, panting, and with a few papers on his hands.
"Alec? What are you doing here?" Asked Akari.
"I've been looking for any Survey Corps members that could help me with the investigation I've been doing." The boy explained.
"About that Pokémon that you say spoke to you?" Akari questioned, rolling her eyes slightly.
"Yes! I've looked at the information about all the known Pokémon in the region and I've narrowed down the suspects to just a few species."
Any look of dismissiveness disappeared from the girl's face as she was now more drawn to what Alec had said. "Really?"
Rei was slightly nervous, but he couldn't deny he was curious too.
"Really. Look, I just needed to see if this information was correct, but there were no Survey Corps members anywhere I searched!" He laughed before showing them the papers.
There were full of scribbles, lines, drawings, and so much more. It almost looked like a canvas rather than anything else. Even with that, there were some comprehensible words written.
"So as far as we know, Pokémon that can mimic human voices are Chatot, Zorua, and Zoroark. Maybe even Ninetales, according to some witnesses, but I'm pretty sure that was just the burn making them hear things..." Alec lightly chuckled at that last part.
"So that's four species..." Akari hummed to herself. "I was already told about Chatot's mimicking ability, but I always thought it was just a rumor."
"Well, it's not, I can tell you that!" The doctors mused. "Now, as we all know, Zorua and Zoroark can do a lot of things with their illusions, so that still makes them plausible suspects..."
Rei tensed, and so did Akari, but the reasons were completely different. "But since those only live in Alabaster Icelands, it's highly unlikely they could have been them, unless somehow one decided to walk all the way from the Icelands to here."
The two relaxed slightly. "So it was just a Chatot's doing then?" Akari asked, turning to look at Rei. "Should we write this in the Pokédex then?"
"Now, hold on."
Akari's eyes fell on Alec again. "What?"
"It may look like a Chatot is responsible, since there have been some sightings in the Fieldlands. However..."
From his pocket, he took out a small glass tube with something inside. Something that made Rei's blood freeze.
"I found this stuck in one of the bushes near my camp."
It was a small patch of white fur, safely stored inside that tube. Something told Rei, and all of the Pokémon next to him too for the faces they put, that fur was his, from when he ran away from Alec's camp.
The doctor gave the tube to Akari and the girl then to Rei, who didn't look at it too much before handing it back to Alec.
"Is that a Pokémon's fur?"
"Yes. Our culprit must have left some of their fur when they ran away from my camp, and as you already know, Chatot don't have fur."
"Wait but..." Akari's face turned into one of terror as she realized what that meant. "Are you implying that a Zorua or Zoroark could be in the Fieldlands?!"
"Shhhh!" Alec immediately shut her up, looking around. "You want to cause mass panic?!"
"This is something that we have to report! What if someone gets hurt? You know how dangerous they are?"
Eevee rolled her eyes. "So dangerous that you have one right next to you and you don't even know." She said, to which Mime Jr. only tilted his head.
"Yes, I know, but who is to say that this fur is from the same Pokémon we're looking for? There may be other Pokémon that have white fur that could have passed through there before our culprit."
Akari didn't seem too convinced, but she nodded anyway. "I understand."
"Alright then." Alec sighed. "I should go back to finding a way to check whose fur this could be..."
"Captain Zisu has a Zoroark on her team. Maybe you can compare it?" The girl suggested.
"That's... a very good idea actually. Where can I find her?"
"She should be in the training grounds."
"Alright. Thank you both. You can go on with your day now. And if you find anything else while you're out in the field, make sure to tell me."
Alec then went away, most likely to the training grounds, leaving Akari, Rei and their Pokémon to think about what they just heard. Rei was three seconds away from having a panic attack, but he somehow didn't let it show.
Akari seemed just a bit less excited to venture into the Fieldlands.
"Why did you have to go to a human camp?!" Eevee exclaimed.
She then sighed when she looked at Akari. "Ugh, you better talk when we get away from her."
As all made their way towards the Fieldlands, Akari's glance was stuck on the ground, thoughtful.
After a few long minutes of silence, Akari sighed before looking at Rei. "Do you think it's true? That either a Zorua or Zoroark could have come to the Fieldlands?"
The question made Rei stiffen up. He looked at the girl before acting as if he was thinking before he shrugged.
"Hmmm..." As the girl hummed, she looked upwards. "Well, no matter if it's true or not, we should be extra careful. Just in case. I have heard a lot of things about those Pokémon, and I don't want to experience their wrath myself."
"I don't get it. What's wrong with Zorua and Zoroark?" Mime Jr. asked, confused.
"Nothing. It's just that humans are very scared of them." Pikachu explained.
"Why?"
"Because they are... erm..." The electric type looked at Rei. "Scary?"
"Why?"
A sigh. "Don't start with this again, please..."
"Why?"
Pikachu let out a loud groan.
"Just up this hill."
The trek had been long. Akari had taken Rei and his team all the way through the path to the Fieldlands before making her way towards one of the few mountainous formations of the place, which was a long distance from the path they had used.
And now, the spot Akari wanted to show him apparently was at the top of the world, because it had been at least fifteen minutes since they began making their way up.
"How long until we're there...?" Luxio whinned.
"Come on, it hasn't been that bad of a trip!" Beautricia told him.
"You're riding on me! Of course it's easy for you!"
The two laughed. Since Beautricia was quite a lot smaller than most of the Pokémon, Luxio volunteered to act as a transport method so that the Wurmple wouldn't stray too far behind. At least that was the reason he gave.
"Here it is." Akari said, pointing ahead. "Just behind these bushes."
Once they had crossed through the shrubbery, Rei and his team were met with a few loud bangs and cheers that nearly caused his illusion to burst when he fell down onto the ground.
Apparently, he wasn't the only one that got surprised. As Akari, her Pokémon and Cyndaquil also stumbled slightly at the sudden shouts, and Eevee and Luxio readied themselves for a possible battle.
Rei gave a quick glance at the crowd, and saw a few familiar faces, those being Lian and professor Laventon, with a few more guards and what Rei supposed were Pearl Clan members behind them, all wearing a smile.
Laventon approached the boy and offered him his hand to help him stand up, which Rei accepted with a still flabbergasted expression.
Who are these people?
"What's all of this?" Akari asked the professor.
"A surprise for you two!" He replied with a smile.
"What?" Both Akari and Rei exclaimed.
"We of the Pearl Clan are very thankful for what you did for our lord Kleavor." Lian began. "Our leader has unfortunately not been able to come despite her desire to do so, but some of the members of our clan have gathered to thank you both for your service."
Rei looked at Akari with a questioning glance.
The unspoken question was quickly answered. "I didn't know anything about this! I swear!" The girl exclaimed before looking at the professor. "How did you know we would come here?"
"The professor told us it was one of your favourite places to go to." Lian replied, looking at Laventon.
He nodded. "And when I heard you telling your Pokémon that you wanted to show Rei a very beautiful place, I thought this would be it." The professor laughed.
"For how long have you been planning this?"
"Since when we found out about your doing." Someone from the crowd said.
"It was a long way from our settlement, but it was worth it!" Another one said.
Then everything fell silent.
"So..." The girl began. "That's it? I mean, thank you for this, we really appreciate it! But..."
"Well, we didn't really have much time to prepare anything too special..." Laventon said with a laugh while he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"We simply want to express our most sincere gratitude for helping the Pearl Clan." Lian nodded. "And some of the members may have some questions as well." He added, turning to the pink-dressed humans
"How did you manage to quell Kleavor? Is it true that throwing his favourite food at him worked?" One of the clan members asked.
"It is, yes." Akari replied.
"Did any of you get injured?"
Akari looked at Rei. "Yes, we did get injured, but we're mostly fine now."
Silence once again filled the place.
"Sooo..." Lian began.
"Well, it was a nice surprise and all of that, but we should start moving." A guard said.
"Yeah, we should be patrolling right now." Another one said.
"Just one last question." A Pearl Clan member said.
"Go ahead." Lian gestured.
"Is it true that you two rode on the noble Wyrdeer?"
Everyone's eyes fell on the duo.
"Yes, it is."
Murmurs echoed through the crowd. "How did you manage to earn his favor?"
"Does that mean they received the Mind Plate?"
"Wow, can we see it?"
"Hey, HEY!" Lian interrupted them. "Leave them be, will you? They are supposed to be resting today, and they don't need to be swarmed by questions."
It was amazing to see how everyone seemed to obey the younger human. "I suppose we can start bringing this reunion to an end, eh?" Laventon said.
And with that, and a few goodbyes, the hilltop was left empty, save for Laventon and Lian.
"So how did you like it? Take it as an apology for being so harsh last time." The warden told the two.
"You see, this all was warden Lian's idea." The professor clarified.
"Thanks." Rei simply said.
"You really didn't have to." Akari added.
"Bah, nonsense! It was my day off as well, anyway!"
They all shared a laugh at that.
"I must go now. Enjoy the rest of your free day!" The boy yelled, waving goodbye, to which they followed suit.
As they watched the warden go, Akari turned to the professor. "Professor Laventon, there is something we should discuss. It's about something Alec suspects."
"The doctor from the medical corps?" The professor hummed. "He came to ask me about some information about certain Pokémon."
"Yes. Well, he came to us and told us he suspects that..." Akari breathed deep. "A Zoroark or Zorua may be roaming the Fieldlands."
The professor's smile vanished in an instant as a frown took its place. "My, that's not good, is it?" He said. "Does he have any proof for such a claim?"
"He found fur that he things could be of a Zoroark. He's gone to see Zisu to compare it with hers."
"Hopefully it will just be a false alarm..."
Rei didn't dare talk.
"Well, the only advice I can give you is to be careful." Laventon sighed, before walking away. "I'll go and see Alec to ask him myself. Goodbye, you two!"
And with that, the professor grabbed his things and walked away, leaving the two alone again.
"Well, let's get back to why we were here. Look at the view from up here!" She exclaimed, pointing somewhere.
When Rei looked, he was met with a beautiful overview of the Fieldlands, with almost everything in it being visible. Not only that, he could see what he imagined was another area of the region, with a big mountain reaching the sky, where a strange swirling formation was present.
Is that a 'space-time distortion'?
"Do you like it? You can see the Coronet Highlands from here, and even the Alabaster Icelands if you squint your eyes hard enough. Personally, I prefer it when the Sun is setting, but it is pretty spectacular like this too."
Rei had to admit, he had never seen such a view in the Icelands, but since even the Pokémonnotfrom there were astonished, he supposed the reason wasn't that.
"Cool..." Rei muttered.
"Rei, did you tell a child named Vessa to ask me to 'seal away an unusual danger' that had something to do with trapping wisps inside a weird looking stone?" Akari suddenly asked after a pause.
Rei simply nodded, giving a shrug.
"So she wasn't lying..."
A few more moments of silence passed before Rei decided to turn his head to Akari and look at her. "Why come here?" He asked.
The girl simply smiled and looked at him. "You're asking why I brought you here? Well, the beauty of a place is only truly beautiful when more people get to share it together. It's not like it's some secret hideout!"
Eevee and Cyndaquil jumped onto Rei's lap. "And it's also a way to thank you." The girl added. "Ever since you appeared here, you have taught me more than I ever thought was possible about Pokémon and how to treat them right. And most importantly, how to let go of the fear of approaching them, and giving me the opportunity to spend a lot more time with them."
She looked back into the horizon. "So from the bottom of my heart, thank you, Rei. I wouldn't be where I am right now if you never fell from the sky."
Rei didn't talk. Instead, he decided to look just where the girl was, only a bit more up, to the swirling formation.
It's unbelievable to think that I've had this much influence on some humans in just the few days I've been here. And to think I am running around with an illusion practiced for just a couple of days... How long has it been since I've thought about being caught?
And Akari... she's been so friendly ever since we first met. How would she react to finding out the truth?Well, that's if she doesn't keep following me and she finds out by herself...
How many times have I even asked that question to myself? And why does it feel like I could actually trust her?
...
Heh. Maybe I've been influenced by humans too. I hope my father doesn't find out about this, or he might just kill me and the poor girl too.
"Thanks, Akari." The boy said.
It was then when Rei realized that he was missing a pair of teammates, since Luxio and Beautricia were gone.
Before he could worry though, Eevee made a gesture and winked. "They'll be fine. Don't worry."
Rei looked uncertain, but decided to trust the Eevee. Hopefully, those two wouldn't get in too much trouble.
If something happens to Beautricia, I'll have to worry about someone else trying to kill me...
"And why exactly are we here?"
"Just to have a moment alone? I dunno..."
Once Luxio had gone inside the bushes, he found himself walking along a path that led to another cliff with similar views. However, he and Wurmple were alone now.
"So why did you want to be alone, mighty electrical hero?" Beautricia asked with a smile, jumping down from the electric type's back.
"Well, I wanted to spend some time with you. Maybe I could tell you what we've been doing lately?"
"Oh! Yes, tell me!"
"Well, the most important thing is the fact we somehow managed to beat a Pokémon at least two times the size of an alpha, but we also trained, and helped complete the Pokédex!" Luxio explained happily.
"You forgot the true most important thing! You evolved! How did you feel?"
"It was... I don't know how to put it with words, but I felt so strong, like I could take down three Kleavors alone. And I didn't even realize my body had changed at all for a while."
"Really? It must feel amazing to evolve. I wish I could evolve too..."
"Aw, come on! I'm sure you will soon! Didn't Wurmple evolve like, super early?"
"I think so. I'm still wondering how you managed to evolve before me!" Beautricia laughed.
"Well, that's because I have the best trainer in the world!" Luxio smiled.
"I think he's more than just your trainer, don't you think?"
Luxio looked away. "I always had the feeling that my real dad never actually liked me. It's just... nice to have someone that feels like he's caring for me. And to have friends that are by your side."
Beautricia frowned. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. If there's something I can do..."
"You're already doing enough by being here. Thank you."
Without realizing it, Beautricia leaned in on Luxio, which was only on his leg, but that still managed to make the electric type redden slightly.
"You're comfy." The bug type stated, following suit after realizing what she'd done.
Luxio didn't answer, instead wrapping his tail around her. "You too."
He resisted the urge to face-palm at his response.
There was a moment of silence after that, where none of the two spoke, simply enjoying the view. "I like the view. It's beautiful." Beautricia interrupted the silence.
Not as much as you...
There was another pause after that, in which Luxio took a few deep breaths and prepared himself for something he had been wanting to say for a long while.
"Hey, Beautricia?"
"Hm? Yeah?"
"L-Look, I've been wanting to tell you this for a while, and..."
The electric type's face was a whole new shade of red, but still tried to keep calm. "Listen, you're just... beautiful and I love spending time with you!" He said those words so fast he wasn't sure if the Pokémon next to him had understood them.
At least until she began chuckling slightly. "I love spending time with you too. And I also think you're beautiful." She replied.
More silence. Luxio could swear that his heart was about to jump out of his chest if he opened his mouth even slightly. He was about to say the four words he wanted to say, but someone beat him.
"I love you, Luxio."
If he wasn't already sitting, he was sure he would have fainted right there. Instead, his face blushed until it couldn't anymore, as he struggled to articulate any sort of coherent word.
"Hey, are you there?" The Wurmple's words managed to snap him out of his trance, if only slightly.
Luxio only managed to whisper something at such a volume that Beautricia had to frown in confusion. "Say that again?"
The electric type closed his eyes and took another deep breath. "I love you too, Beautricia."
He didn't know if it was just him, but he could swear that it felt a bit warmer where Beautricia was brushing his fur.
The two stood in silence, watching the flying types fly over the Fieldlands. "I'm not gonna be able to escape from all the teasing once they find out, will I?" The electric type sighed with a laugh.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm pretty sure the teasing started the moment we first met." The Wurmple laughed.
"Maybe you're right, but now it's gonna be even worse!"
After sharing another laugh, the two went back to being silent, simply enjoying each other's company for a while.
"Do you think we should go back? I don't want to worry Ocko and the rest."
"Whatever you want, mighty electrical hero. I think this time alone was more than fruitful." Beautricia replied.
"Please, never stop calling me that."
"There you are!"
Rei and Akari's head whipped to where Eevee was looking. Both Beautricia and Luxio walked back towards them, the former riding on the latter, who had a dumb smile on his face.
For some reason, Rei could swear Beautricia was pretty much squeezing Luxio. She was also wearing a small smirk.
"Finally you're back!" Eevee exclaimed. "What took you so long?"
"Stuff." Luxio simply said,
"I'm stuff." Beautricia added, nuzzling into the electric type's head, which only made him blush and widen his eyes, before he looked away.
"Did you finally confess to each other?" Cyndaquil smiled.
Luxio sighed but didn't reply.
Akari smiled, oblivious to the conversation but understanding the meaning behind it. "I didn't know your Luxio and Beautricia had such a... strong bond between them."
"Oooh! Are they mates now, Pikachu?" Mime Jr. asked from Akari's shoulders.
"I suppose." The electric type said, giving a small smile of his own.
Rei decided to leave his congratulations for later. He looked at Eevee who seemed like she was thinking deeply about something. Before he could frown, Akari interrupted his thoughts.
"Very well, so what do you want to do next, Rei?" She asked.
That was a good question. What did he want to do? Now that he had the choice, and wasn't forced to go on any sort of mission, what could he do?
Now that he thought about it, back when he was trapped inside that cave, his day was normally spent by training, his father teaching him something or sometimes playing with his sister, save for the times he snook out with Eevee and Sneasel to explore, but it wasn't usually that far from his den.
That was about to change, however.
"Hike?" He suggested.
"You want to walk?" Akari repeated. "Sure! Is there anywhere specific you'd like to go, or not?"
Once Rei shook his head, Akari nodded and turned around to leave the hill. "Alright! Let's go to the Heights Camp. It should be the closest camp, and I could show you some interesting landmarks there are to see in the Fieldlands."
With another nod, Rei followed behind the girl, his team behind him. He had to admit that Luxio and Beautricia made great mates.
"And finally, this is what we call Obsidian Falls!"
Seeing an almost frozen waterfall was one thing, but watching a waterfall with crystalline water creating a small rainbow as the Sun shone was a feeling neither Rei nor Eevee had experienced, even if for the rest was something as mundane as seeing the sky blue.
"Amazing..." Both said at the same time.
"Indeed, isn't it?"
With the sun signaling that the day's afternoon was about to reach its end, Rei wondered how the day could have passed that fast.
"And the tour is unfortunately over. Hopefully you didn't find all the explanations too boring."
Rei shook his head. "That's good. Now, Rei there's something I'd like to ask you before we head back." The girl sighed, looking at Mime Jr. "Would you mind having a battle with me so that Mime Jr. can train some more? If we are for whatever reason sent to another very hard mission, I don't want him to be hurt too badly while battling."
It made sense, Rei thought. If Akari had caught Mime Jr. not too long ago, he was bound not to have a lot of fighting experience.
Rei nodded his head, accepting the challenge. "Another battle! Who's going this time?" Eevee asked.
"I wish I could, but I don't want to hurt the poor Pokémon too badly." Luxio replied.
"Alright, mister I-evolved!" Eevee laughed, something that Beautricia also did. "Cyndaquil, how about you fight?" The normal type added, turning to him. "You didn't get to fight too much back when we were with Kleavor."
He thought about it for a while before nodding. "Okay, sure! The experience will come in handy too." He said, walking in front of Rei.
"Ooh, fighting! I'm so excited for my first real battle!" Mime Jr. cheered, jumping onto the ground.
Pikachu got close to both Rei and Cyndaquil. "Don't hurt him too bad, please." He whispered.
Once the two were set for the match, Akari spoke. "Rei, remember your injury. Don't overwork yourself."
Another nod later, and everyone was set for the fight. "Come on, Cyndaquil! You can do this!" Eevee shouted.
"Ocko, we're counting on you!" Luxio added.
"Show him what you know, Mime Jr.!" Pikachu exclaimed.
"Alright! Mime Jr., use Confusion!" Akari Yelled.
"Okay!"
The psychic type's hands glowed a pale blue as Cyndaquil got ready to dodge the incoming attack.
Once Mime Jr. let it go, there was a small blue ring that flew towards Cyndaquil... so slow that he could simply walk out of the way.
"Aw, dang it! I missed!" The psychic type exclaimed.
Cyndaquil looked at Rei, and he looked at Cyndaquil.
"Rol-" Rei stopped himself. Maybe that was a bit too much. "Ember?"
Cyndaquil tilted his head in confusion as he threw a tiny ember that flew across the field until it hit Mime Jr.
He immediately fell down, crying in pain.
"OWOWOW! IT BURNS, IT BURNS!"
Everyone flinched, as Akari took out the Pokémon's Poké-ball and recalled him as fast as she could.
"Maybe this wasn't as good of an idea as I thought..." The girl half laughed, half sighed. "I should train Mime Jr. myself for some time before I let him fight for real again."
Rei nodded again. I didn't think an Ember would hurt him that much...
Pikachu let out a sigh as he approached Cyndaquil. "S-Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt him!" The fire type stammered.
"It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have thrown a weaker attack at him. It was his first actual battle ever, I think, but I didn't think it wasthisbad." He explained.
"Well, there's nothing we can do now, is there?" Eevee added.
"We should probably start going back to Jubilife Village. Being out in the open without a good source of light is pretty dangerous." Akari interrupted, starting to walk. "I'm sure you are also hungry, are you not?" She smiled, looking back. "Come on, dinner's on me today."
And with that, everyone made their way back to the village, the day off having been a little break instead of anything too productive, though that was appreciated nonetheless.
"..so yeah, I'm thinking of staying overnight some time to see if any of those wisps that Vessa asked to be retrieved are close to the village."
Once Rei and Akari had both finished eating, they stayed chatting for a little while longer to let their Pokémon finish their own food.
Of course, it was Akari who did most of the talking.
Eevee, Cyndaquil, Pikachu and Mime Jr., the latter now fine from the 'infernal burn' he had gone through, exchanged experiences, while Luxio and Beautricia were too focused in their own little world, nuzzling and smiling at each other. Even Akari had no doubt about what was going on with them anymore.
Once everyone was done with their food, Rei and Akari stood up, about to part ways. "Well, I believe it's time we head to our headquarters to get ready for the night,
Rei nodded again. "Good luck." He told her.
It was then when the moment of taking Beautricia back to Beauregard arrived.
"No! It's not been long enough!" Luxio complained, when he realized the direction they were going.
"Luxio, you knew this was going to happen eventually..." Beautricia sighed, trying to hide her own sadness.
"Eventually!" He whined before looking forward. "Wait, that's not Beauregard."
That caused everyone to take a look at the guard standing in Beauregard's post. Sure enough, it wasn't him. Instead, there was another human, who perked up when she saw them.
"Hey! You must be Rei, right?" The woman said. "Beauregard had to leave early today because of personal affairs, but he asked me to tell you that you're free to keep Beautricia for tonight until tomorrow when you come to the Galaxy Hall." She explained.
"Does that mean...?" Luxio began.
"ANOTHER SLEEPOVER!" Beautricia excitedly yelled.
"I see someone's excited..." The guard mumbled. "You all should go to bed. For what I've managed to hear from the commander, you are going to have a tough day tomorrow."
Both Luxio and Beautricia were too happy to realize what that could imply, so it was up to to the rest to worry about it.
Rei simply muttered a thank you and walked to his headquarters, where he didn't wait a second before closing the door and dropping his illusion.
"What do you think tomorrow's surprise will be?" Eevee asked sarcastically.
"I bet it's quelling another noble." Cyndaquil replied.
"How's your head doing, Rei?" The normal type asked the Zoroark.
"Doing better, I suppose." He said. "This day of doing nothing has definitely helped me. It barely hurts now."
"Good, because we need you with full force for tomorrow!" Eevee laughed, before her face fell down, thoughtful.
Rei tilted his head. "Something wrong?"
Eevee stood silent for a while, before she looked at him with a determined expression. "After seeing Luxio evolve and..." She looked at him talking with Beautricia. "...other things, I think I decided what I want to evolve into."
"That's great!" Everyone said.
"So what did you pick?" Rei asked her.
She took a deep breath. "You were right. Being an Espeon sounds cool, but I heard a lot of tales about them having terrible headaches because of their powers, and I wouldn't be able to cope with it for sure. That narrowed my options to two: Glaceon or Sylveon."
"So...?" Cyndaquil pressed.
She smiled and glanced at him before looking at Rei again. "Say, could you, by any chance, help me learn Baby-Doll Eyes?"
Rei smiled.
"Does that mean more training?" Luxio groaned, clearly not wanting his precious time with Beautricia to be interrupted.
"You don't need to come if you don't want to." Rei chuckled. "I know being together will not be something that will happen a lot, so you should take advantage of it as much as possible."
Luxio and Beautricia looked at each other and nodded. They then looked at Rei with a smirk.
"I won't leave your side! Plus, it's not like Beautricia is staying here!" The electric type declared.
"Yeah! I also want to train with you guys some time, if you don't mind!" The bug type added.
Rei nodded with a confident smile. "Alright then!"
The Zoroark looked at Eevee. "I have no idea how I could help you learn Baby-Doll Eyes, but if there's a way, I'm going to help you!"
She nodded, her tail swishing slightly. "Yeah! Thank you so much, Rei!"
"I only have one question!" Cyndaquil suddenly said.
Everyone turned to look at him.
"What?" Eevee asked.
"When are we leaving?"
Rei silently closed the door behind him. There were no visible guards in sight, but he still held his illusion up, just in case.
"Alright, where are we going?" Luxio asked.
"We have to be careful with the place we choose. Akari said she would be looking around the village for the wisps, so we can't stay too close, but we can't go too far either, because I don't know about you, but I'm not walking a whole hour from the Fieldlands after a battle in the middle of the night." Rei explained.
"What about where we battled earlier in the day?" Cyndaquil suggested.
"The forest clearing? Isn't that a bit too far?" Eevee mused.
"What if we find some empty clearing where we can train that's not too far from the village?" Luxio tried.
"Yeah, we should do that." Rei said. "But..."
He glanced back, looking for any signs of Akari following him again. Either she knew how to hide, or this time, he was truly alone. At least for now.
"We should check our backs from time to time." He huffed, exiting the gates.
It was quite a long walk, but they were getting really close to their training area, and there was still no sign of Akari possibly following them.
I don't like this. Something's going to go wrong, I can feel it.
Rei shook his head. I'm overthinking it. She's not in a mad hunt for us. In any case, she's curious about what we're doing and why we're sneaking out. That's it. Stop being paranoid.
Still, those words could only reassure him so much.
Once they arrived at a pretty flat and empty area that was at a decent distance from the village surrounded by a few bushes, Eevee was the first one to run ahead, with Rei giving a last look back before dropping his illusion.
"Cyndaquil, would you mind lighting some wood on fire so we have light?" Rei asked.
Once they could see, Eevee turned to look at them.
"Alright, so is there anyone that knows any sort of fairy type moves?" She asked, though she knew the answer already.
"I'm pretty sure no one here can learn any fairy type moves at all except you..." Rei replied.
"Great, so I'll have to go only with what my mom told me..." The normal type sighed. "Alright, so I only know that the move is supposed to be me putting a cute face and causing the attacker to soften the attack, or something like that." She explained.
"Wouldn't that only work with Pokémon of the opposite gender?" Cyndaquil asked.
"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter the gender. The point is putting a cute look that causes the opponent to make their attacks become weaker."
"Isn't that easy? I mean, I'm sure you'd have no problem with acting cute, so where's the catch?" Rei hummed.
Eevee widened her eyes and the slight redness in her face was visible for most of the Pokémon there. "T-The catch is..." She tried to continue after she cleared her throat. "...The catch is the same with moves like Scratch. Yeah, scratching someone with your claw is easy, but you don't consider it a move unless you put in some energy, right?"
Rei nodded. "I suppose you're right..." He then crouched to Luxio's level and whispered. "Did I say something wrong?"
The electric type and Beautricia looked at each other for a while before they both sighed. That only managed to confuse Rei even further, but he didn't press on.
"So how do you suggest you practice if no one knows any sort of fairy move? I suppose you will need to put in some sort of energy specific to that type, right?" Cyndaquil asked. "Isn't it very hard to use a move that's from a different type than your own if you have no guidance at all?"
"Maybe..." Eevee hummed before her eyes lit up with an idea. "But you should know!"
"What?"
"You know Rollout, right? That's a rock type move!"
"I think I know where you're going..." Luxio chuckled.
"And this is why you were the brain of the three." Rei laughed.
"But I got Zisu's help when training! And rock type moves have nothing to do with fairy ones!" Cyndaquil said.
"Still is better than nothing. They are still different types."
"You're right..." The fire type hummed. "So do you want me to tell you what Zisu told me about Rollout?"
Eevee nodded. "Alright, so she didn't give too many details. She was repeating over and over that I needed to think of my body as if it were a rock before giving myself a boost to fall forward, and that the rest would come on its own."
"And did it work?" The normal type questioned.
"Not at first, because no matter how hard I thought about being 'like a rock' it didn't seem to be doing anything. But it was when I started clearly imagining myself as a rock going down a slope that I did something. It was just downhill from there... sort of literally."
"Imagining yourself as a rock..." Eevee hummed. "So what would the equivalent for that be for this move?"
"Maybe imagining yourself giving the look and causing the opponent to make their attacks less strong?" Beautricia suggested.
"Maybe that could work..." Eevee said, confident, before looking at Cyndaquil. "I want you to use Quick Attack on me and I'll try to use Baby-Doll Eyes."
"What? Are you sure?" The fire type asked, to which the Eevee nodded full of determination. "Shouldn't you at least have the basics of the move figured?"
"This is as far as we're going to get in our knowledge without someone like Zisu, or at least someone that knows the move..." Rei sighed. "Geez, that human really does miracles, doesn't she?"
"Alright, let's get to it!"
Eevee and Cyndaquil positioned themselves facing each other, the latter with a worried look.
"Alright! Go for it!" Eevee shouted.
"A-Alright!" Cyndaquil replied, throwing himself against her fast, but not too much.
Eevee closed her eyes for a while and prepared to try the move. She opened her eyes and tried her best to look 'cute', but it wasn't enough, since Cyndaquil didn't stop and hit her, knocking her back.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"Y-Yeah..." Eevee told him, getting up again and shaking her head.
"Did it work?" Beautricia asked.
"No. I didn't feel anything..."
"We'll have to keep trying then." Rei sighed.
"Alright, so anyone's got any other ideas?" Luxio asked.
How is it possible there's such a ruckus at this time of the night? Akari thought to herself as she headed towards the sounds of fighting she had heard while looking for those wisps.
She wanted to come across Rei and see if he was once again sneaking out, but either he didn't, or he had avoided her too well, because she hadn't seen him anywhere, so she focused on looking for the wisps until she began hearing sounds of Pokémon fighting somewhere not too far from the village.
I swear if some wild Pokémon have decided to fight this close to Jubilife Village at this time of the night...
As she began getting closer, she realized there was a fire, which hinted at human presence.
Who is trainingnow?!
She was about to peek her head from behind the bushes before she heard something.
"Zor, roark?"
"Cynda! Cyndaquil!"
"Voi..."
"Ple, wurmp."
"Xio, luxi."
"Zoroark, ark..."
At least five different Pokémon voices, but no human ones. That was weird. Was their trainer somewhere else and they had simply left their Pokémon roam free?
She knew that members of the Pearl Clan and the Diamond Clan didn't like using Poké-balls, but she was also sure that there was no trainer in either clan that had five Pokémon partners.
The only one she could think of was... But he only has three Pokémon. Four, counting Beauregard's Beautricia. So whose are these Pokémon?
As silent as she could, she opened a gap in the bushes and looked behind. What she found made her frown in confusion.
Just in front of her, there was a laying Luxio with a Wurmple watching an Eevee and a Cyndaquil... she guessed training.
It was a familiar bunch of Pokémon.
Is Rei somewhere around here? And where's the fifth Pokémon?
The answer to that question would come soon enough.
From somewhere to her left, where she couldn't see, another Pokémon came walking. Taller than the rest, but still shorter than her.
A Zoroark.
What's a Zoroark doing here?! So Alec was right after all?
Hold up...
It was then when she realized that, if being there wasn't weird enough, the Zoroark was wearing...
The girl widened her eyes. Rei's cap and scarf...
Her heart began beating faster. Oh no... Is Rei alright?! Why did he have to go out sneaking like that?!
But before her impulses forced her to throw the Poké-ball with her sleeping Pikachu out, she decided to keep watching and make sure she wasn't jumping into conclusions.
The Zoroark acted as if nothing was wrong and walked to the Eevee and picked it up, making her groan.
As rare as this situation was, everything seemed relatively the opposite. At least, until the Zoroark did something that Akari would have never seen coming.
The Zoroark transformed into Rei.
She managed to muffle the gasp before anyone could hear her. No. This can't be happening. This is a joke, right? I must be dreaming! I fell asleep somewhere while looking for those wisps!
Yet, as much as she didn't want to believe it, it all made sense. Him not talking, being so attentive to his Pokémon...
Oh no.
On top of that, the girl stiffened when she saw that 'Rei' was now looking at where she was looking before she heard the Cyndaquil say something and everyone turned to look.
As the fake human got closer, the girl slowly crawled backwards, trying to, as silently as possible, get away without being discovered.
She crawled farther.
And farther.
Until...
*Crack*
She stepped on a twig.
Without thinking twice, she got up and tried to make a run for it.
The last thing she heard was a shout before a sharp pain went all around her body making her yell, and then she fell down to the ground.
They had tried everything they could think of, from Eevee imagining herself performing the move to imagining herself weakening the opponent, but nothing seemed effective.
"Are we sure that she needs to imagine anything at all?" Rei sighed.
"I told you fairy type moves were different from rock moves. And we've only managed to hurt Eevee!" Cyndaquil complained.
"I'm fine..." She groaned.
"Well, whatever we're doing is surely taking us nowhere." Beautricia sighed.
"In the end, we'll have to go and see Zisu." Luxio sighed.
"Crazy how many times we've been going to see her in just a few days..." Rei chuckled.
He suddenly felt a shiver. Feels like something's about to go really wrong...
Leaving that aside, he grabbed Eevee, making her let out another 'I'm fine' as he reapplied his illusion. And then turned around to look at his team.
"Alright, I think it's time we went to bed. We won't do anything else than hurt Eevee if we attack her without actually knowing what we're..." His head then turned to just next to Luxio, to a small hole in the bushes that didn't look natural at all. "...doing."
"Is someone there?" Cyndaquil asked Rei, with an alarmed tone.
Everyone realized something was wrong and looked at the hole too.
Rei didn't answer, instead slowly getting closer to the bush. There was a palpable tension in the air as he got closer.
And closer.
Until...
*Crack*
He widened his eyes as he suddenly heard someone running away.
"Luxio! Thunder Shock!"
With a great reaction time, the electric type let out a bolt of lightning, and a yell was heard.
A yell of a girl.
Rei widened his eyes again. Arceus, please, let that not be her.
Without another word, he crossed the bushes and saw who Luxio had hit.
Akari, laying on the ground, moaning from the pain, looking fearfully at him.