As it stood, the Ikeda's had already spent a not insignificant amount of time smoothing everything over with the local law enforcers. All Yun had to do was confirm her part when they arrived to question her two days later. It seemed they had managed to paint Xavier and herself in victim roles instead of the instigators as the officers that arrived treated her rather gentle.
There were a few times she had to hide her confusion and surprise when the story the police had received didn't align with the truth. The way they told it, two kids had chased a thief all the way to the Ichiban, sneaked on board, and were then promptly taken hostage. The thief Yun had poisoned, to her relief, was never mentioned.
After that, she was left alone, safe for Xavier's regular visits, and one uncomfortable time his father dropped by to inquire if she needed anything. She had refused anymore help after she had discovered they had arranged to replace her water damaged phone and Pokédex. While both had been waterproof, apparently that didn't mean they could survive a soak in the ocean for a couple of hours.
She had been particularly miffed to find out her new phone was considerably higher end than the previous one. And while she didn't hold a grudge against Xavier for what happened, it still made her feel as if they were trying to buy her forgiveness.
After a few more days of bed rest, she was given a thick insulated boot to protect her injuries. As nothing was broken, it was simply a matter of making sure she didn't jostle her leg enough to cause her stitches to tear. Hence the boot. However, it was such an unbending, unyielding thing that Yun found it nearly impossible to walk around with as she had to swing her leg forward to move it at all.
The resulting limp was quite pathetic to watch.
After that, a nurse came to inform her that she would need to leave her room not five days later and recover further in a center or at home. With all of her cash waterlogged and then not immediately left to dry, it had formed one big paper clump that she had busied herself with trying to untangle. The brittle paper had torn easily, and she hadn't been able to rescue enough money to make recovering in a center an option, but she wasn't looking forward to returning home either. Perhaps she could think of something innocent to explain her injury, something that didn't involve shark bites.
Her brainstorming for ideas was cut short when someone from the Pokémon department, recognizable by their coat, knocked at her door. It was somebody Yun hadn't seen before, and he looked quite frazzled when he addressed her.
"Are you Kazama-san?"
Nodding along, she said. "Yes, can I help you?"
"I came to inform you that your Zoroark is awake. His surgeries went well, and he will mostly recover. In time, you might even still be able to battle with him."
When he trailed off, she chimed in neutrally. "That's good." But she could see from the look on his face that it wasn't all he had wanted to say. She didn't have to wait for long before he continued.
"However... ever since he woke up, he has been rather, uhm, agitated. We thought perhaps a visit from his trainer would help him settle down."
She struggled to keep the grimace off her face. Apparently, the woman who had come by on the first day had forgone to mention that the Zoroark wasn't really her Pokémon to the rest of the department. Perhaps with good reason.
"I'm not sure I can help." She admitted lamely. "He's very..." Aggressive, evil, crazy, "willful."
"Dark types usually are." The man smiled. "But I'm sure he'll be happy to see you."
Not willing to argue, she got up reluctantly but managed to keep a polite tone. "Okay, I will try."
She let him lead the way but caught the man pausing multiple times to allow her to catch up, the boot slowing her down significantly. A commotion down the hallways made her pause. Two women with familiar red and white coats stood outside door. One of them was swearing loudly while to other tended to her hand, blood dripping down her wrist.
"I swear if that thing bites me one more time, I will-."
"Calm down Susume-san, people are starting to stare."
It was in that moment that they both turned to her. The one that had been cursing before smoothed out of features. "Nothing to see here, now shoo kid."
The man that brought her along, chose that moment to chime in. "Actually, she's here to solve our little problem."
Immediately, the rude woman's face soured. "Oh so you're its trainer."
The way she said the word 'trainer' left nothing to imagination of what she thought of Yun her capabilities. She suppressed the urge to sigh, that jerk was already giving her a bad reputation.
"Yep." She responded dryly. "That's me."
The woman's mouth opened to say something but Yun held up her hand before she could. "Just tell me where I need to go." So I can get this over with, she kept to herself.
With a glare that could curdle milk she pointed at a door to Yun's left. She didn't allow herself to hesitate in front of the them and almost dived into the room. It surprised Yun that a room in the Pokémon department was almost identical to her own. Except, she noted, for the lack of bathroom, everything else was there, from a human sized bed to a nightstand.
She had expected to be greeted by a growl, a snarl or perhaps even an attack but instead she just felt a familiar sensation. While she could see the bandage covered heap of fur laying on the bed, her mind told her that nothing was there. It took her a few moment to shake of the odd compulsion to just turn back and she literally had to shake her head to manage it.
"I get it." She whispered. "You just want to be left alone, don't you?"
His ear perked up and her mind cleared fully.
She took a deep breath before taking a step forward. A small growl greeted her, she stopped.
"Look, I-" What was she going to say to this thing? She knew nothing about it except that it was a mass of anger and aggression. "You would like to leave this place, right?" The ball of fur uncurled and one of its bright eyes peeked out at her.
"I can get it done." She said levelly. "But you have to stop biting the hospital staff."
It- he snorted at her. Knowing she wouldn't convince him by appealing to his conscience, this thing had killed before, she decided to try a harder approach. "They are trying to heal you because they think you are my Pokémon," he bared his teeth at her in displeasure, "I can always correct this assumption."
Looking him in the eye, she made her threat. "But trust me, you don't want to know what they do to aggressive wild Pokémon like you." Not to mention he was still wanted by the rangers.
For a moment they just stared at each other, Yun trying hard not to blink or look away, before he slightly turned his head, breaking eye contact.
"I know you're capable of understanding me. So, I'll cut you a deal." She stated, his twitching ears letting her know she had his attention. "Don't attack anybody else while you're under my name and as soon as you're healed, I'll release you as far away from all of us people you seem to hate so much."
Taking a bold step forward she offered him her hand. He stared at it for at least a full minute, seemingly in thought, before snapping his teeth at the appendage. She managed to snatch back her hand just in time to avoid being bit and shook her head mumbling. "Why was I expecting anything else?"
Then, having no other ideas that might appeal to him, she turned to leave. Pausing before the door she commented. "I wonder what made you like this."
Do you want to know?
Having not expected an answer, she almost jumped out of her skin when a dark, rumbling voice sounded behind her. She turned around to see the Zoroark was still the only other living thing in the room. He was sitting up now, leveling her with a hard stare.
"You can talk?" She asked incredulous. Talking was an incredibly rare skill for Pokémon that were not psychic.
Not really. He cocked his head, she could hear his voice but couldn't see his mouth move. I am an illusionist, I can make you see, feel and hear things that aren't really there. It's all in your head.
Because she didn't know what to say to that piece of information she just said. "Oh... that's a handy skill." And scary but she didn't want to admit that out loud.
His lip stretched into a smile, the torn side exposing his gums, but it wasn't a kind gesture. An understatement.
Suddenly the room around her disappeared and she stood in an unfamiliar seedy ally, littered with trash. There was a vague sour smell hanging in the air and there were signs in the street with words written in romanji. She marveled at all the tiny details telling her she was in a different country, from the subtle differences in buildings' architecture to the several completely foreign Pokémon scurrying through the trash.
While looking around she noticed one of the Pokémon digging through the mess was a Zoroark, her Zoroark. With his scars missing, his eyes round and curious, and looking properly fed, he was almost unrecognizable. He pulled a plushy out of an open dumpster that looked like a Teddiursa except white with a blue head. It looked to be in a decent enough state.
The Zoroark appeared to be quite content with his find as well, judging from his cute smile, and turned around to leave the ally behind. He moved fast, making himself invisible whenever near people and easily left the city unnoticed. He was good at illusions, the best of his litter, large as it had been.
They entered a forest of ancient trees, casting a shadow over everything below the canopy despite the bright daylight. He stopped near an upturned root, marking the entrance of a den and let out a soft bark-like sound in greeting.
His own litter was not so large, only two cubs, but that was alright, they were still his entire world. Two four legged versions of him with tiny manes popped out from the den, one of them was red and black, the other blue and dark brown.
"A shiny." Yun whispered though she found she had no voice in this world.
Another Zoroark excited the den, happy to see him, then exasperated when he presented the toy to them instead of food. She shook her head fondly when the curiosity of both cubs was immediately triggered, they got that from their father. Then of course they started fighting because there was only one toy. The red one had always been stronger and easily wrested control over the toy from his sister. She was inconsolable after that.
His mate told him to leave it, she would learn to toughen up or always end up tasting defeat, but it didn't sit right with him. Guilt ate at him, he should have thought to bring two curiosities.
The very next day, he set out to rectify his mistake, taking great care to select something just as special. It took him awhile but eventually he found a crochet doll of a human child with blue hair, and he just knew she would love that.
Excited, he rushed back towards their forest and called towards his family. There was no response. The silence so loud, it disturbed Yun.
The smell hit her then, sharp and overpowering. Blood.
"No!" She called, trying to shield her eyes but her hands didn't exist here either.
She didn't want to see this but was an unwilling spectator to how the Zoroark howled over the disfigured bodies of his family. The other Zoroark's body was torn open, ribs and organs exposed to the air, while lying on top of the lifeless cub as if trying to shield him. Yun had to fight back nausea as the Zoroark tried to gather his family together, his life shattering around him.
Then in the midst of his despair, he caught scent of something else. Blood that wasn't theirs. His mate had fought, and she had fought hard, leaving a trail of blood coming from his enemy. He saw red and so did Yun.
The next images were no longer so sharp and detailed, mirroring the Zoroark's on frenzy as he restlessly chased down whoever did this but somewhere in the back of his mind he was starting to realize... his other cub hadn't been with his the rest of his family. He made the connection, human's collected Pokémon, blue was rare. Hate overpowered him.
He found them, a group of uniformed people camping out further in the forest, guarded by an injured Blaziken and Excadrill. Even injured it was a bad match up for him, but he didn't care, he went straight for the humans. He got his jaw around one of their necks by the time the Pokémon had recovered enough from the surprise and with a squelching sound that would haunt Yun's nightmare's forever he crushed the human's windpipe.
The rest of the fight was blur, the Zoroark not even registering the pain as the Blaziken burnt his arm before twisting it the wrong way. The Excadrill racked a claw across his face, tearing a part of his lip clean of and he didn't even flinch. Eventually though, the injuries caught up to his body and he fell, unable to continue.
"Leave it." The man didn't speak Japanese yet somehow Yun understood him anyway as he commanded his Pokémon. "It will die soon enough."
The Zoroark turned his head defiantly and through his fading vision he tried to focus on the words embroidered on his uniform.
C.I.P.H.E.R.
When he could no longer see, he could hear familiar cries in the distance, those of his child.
Yun found herself on the ground in the hospital, staring at the Zoroark through blurry eyes. He was breathing heavily either from emotion or by having exerted himself with that illusion while he was still recovering.
I survived by sheer stubbornness, convinced I would be able to find her and bring her back. That was years ago. I've given up one ever seeing her again, but I have a new purpose, revenge. His solemn tone changed to incredulous when he turned to her. Why are you crying?
"Because I'm s-sorry." Her voice broke and she hated how much she sounded like a child just then. Quickly, she wiped the wetness off of her cheeks.
Why? I would kill you without a second though if I had the chance.
She shrugged, feeling nauseous and having nothing else to say. Then she picked herself up and turned to leave the room but was stopped by his voice.
I'll take that deal. But I'll tell you this, no matter how far away you manage to stow me away, I will never stop hunting down those of cipher.
She believed him. After all, if she had seen everything right, and she had, he had already chased them all the way to a different region. A chill ran down her spine, knowing that by releasing him, she could be directly responsible for people their deaths.
Fleeing from his room, she made up her mind. She would not return to recover at her parent's house, or anywhere else near people. Ayakashi could carry her, perhaps Twinkle could as well, she would be fine in the wild. But she could not risk exposing other people to this kind of darkness.
Bonus.
As requested I will add the notes of my own character sheet below for those of you who are interested. I know I tend to focus on events and emotions during my writing and very little on descriptions so this might be helpful.
Yun: Plain looking Asian girl (medium to pale skin). Best described as mousy with a small frame and hunched shoulders. At the start her dark hair is cut in a neat chin length bob cut with bangs but she will not be seeing a hairdresser during most of her journey so it will gradually grow out. Her eyes are very dark brown, appearing black from a distance. Tends to favor practical clothes. Her jacket is a sleek dark green oilskin coat with thick lining inside to keep her warm.
AN: I'm sorry to announce I will no longer be able to promise regular updates from now on. This is because I will be starting an exciting new project (that has nothing to do with writing) soon and even now, before I even begun, it is demanding most of my time. That's not to say I am abandoning Reign, writing is my favorite form of relaxation, but updates will slow down significantly. Perhaps it will be impossible to write new content in the first foreseeable months, perhaps it won't be. It's just impossible to predict and I don't want to put myself under pressure. I hope you'll understand.