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Kaname lowered herself into the cave in the glacier. Light came through the hole she climbed down and through the ice but it was still pretty dark.
She made her way down the tunnel, slowly and carefully; not really wanting to deal with any Pokemon. There were ghost Pokemon down here even though it was day time. She marked the spot on her map so she would hopefully remember to make note of it for the professor. It was difficult to take more detailed notes in the cold.
Just because she had been banished didn't mean she couldn't do research.
She peered around a corner, going into a branch in the tunnel; there was a figure, tall and white. It smiled at her.
It was Emmet.
But that couldn't be right.
Kaname blinked a few times, her mouth open in surprise and confusion. She tried to keep her breathing slow so the cold wouldn’t rip at her throat. Emmet held his hand out to her. She desperately wanted to take it.
But this was wrong.
Kaname gritted her teeth, and flipped a throwing knife out of it’s spot on her arm brace. She clenched her fist around the handle and lunged forward as fast as she could.
Looking up into the figure's eyes, she pushed her blade a little farther into its shoulder. She watched it change to what looked like a Zoroark, but it was white. And it was huge; it’s height barely changed, standing almost a whole head over Kaname. If she had to guess, she'd say it was a ghost type though the illusion still seemed to be a physical change. The Pokemon coughed a couple times; it's whole body shuddering.
"And here I didn't think ghost types could be more cruel than dark types," Kaname commented. She put an arm around the Zoroark and helped it to the ground.
Kaname knelt down next to its wounded shoulder. She pulled medicine and bandages out of her bag in a way that let Zoroark clearly see what she had. It winced when she pulled her knife from its shoulder, but otherwise the Pokemon merely watched her. It was oddly calm; she got the feeling that it recognized her. It had to have, otherwise it wouldn’t have taken Emmet’s form....
"You can talk, can't you?" Kaname asked, a little harsher than she meant to. Many Unovan Zoroark could speak like a human, when masquerading as one anyway. "Maybe you can't...had you said something there you might've got me," she mused as she dabbed medicine on the Zoroark's wound.
"Not saying something...worrks better than rrruining it...with my own voice," his voice had sort of a growl to it, though it wasn’t very low. He had to make exaggerated lip movements to form some of the sounds with his muzzle. It actually might have worked with the Emmet illusion...
He continued to watch Kaname dress his wound.
"Why...are you helping me?" the Zoroark asked, "I played a terrrible trick on you...and here you are....dressing a wound...that you gave."
"I shouldn’t’ve hurt you,” Kaname declared. “I didn’t know there were Zoroark here... I thought maybe you were a Gengar, which I would’ve just fallen through.”
“You were grabbing verrry hard...” he mused, “for something you thought you’d pass through...”
“A part of me just hoped it was real...” Kaname said quietly. She was a little ashamed at how quickly she wanted to fall for it.
"You had a drream about him last night...” he told her. Kaname lowered her head as she put away her things. “I saw you...sleeping with the merrchants in their cart..."
Kaname remained silent.
"Are you not frrriendly with the Pearrl Clan? I have...seen you stay in their settlement... Why were you...out with the merrchants?"
“You sure have a lot of questions,” Kaname said, standing up. She sighed. “We've been banished from the Village. Neither clan would take us in. We’ve been staying with friendly Pokemon, and the Gingko Guild if they happen to be around.”
“They banished you?”
“I don’t belong here anyway,” she sighed. The Zoroark watched her turn to leave in silence. He could very easily just attack her from behind...
He stood up, and trotted after her.
“Here,” he offered, “I can show you...the corrrect path through this cave.”
He sounded genuine, and any other Zoroark would’ve just attacked her from behind...but Kaname was suspicious of just about anyone these days. She was reminded of her first hike with Ingo, though, through the cave in the Highlands.
“Alright,” she agreed, gesturing forward.
He went ahead of her, and turned back for a moment.
“Are you getting cold?” He asked, after noticing her kneading her hands together. He gently took her hands in his claw and rested them on his arm. “My fur is verrry warm.”
“You’re being awfully kind for someone I just stabbed,” Kaname commented, wiggling her fingers further under the Zoroark’s fur.
“You rrremind me of someone I once knew,” he said.
They passed many ghost type Pokemon, but none of them so much as looked their way. Kaname tried to identify any kind of landmark that might help her find the correct path again, but even if she made gouges in the ice herself they might not be there when she came back. Everything in the ice was so similar.
“Do you have a name?” Kaname asked, “You must go around as a human, since you can talk.”
“You are the firrst perrrson...I’ve talked to in a while,” the Zoroark said, “I have...discarrrded the name I was given...”
“By the person I remind you of..?” Kaname mused.
He said nothing.
“But you have a human form? Did you copy someone or can you make your own?” she asked.
“Now who has all the questions,”
“I’m researching Pokemon.” She declared.
“It’s a copy,” he sighed, “but changed some things...so I can still feel like myself.” He looked down at Kaname, who was looking at him expectantly. He sighed again, and looked away, embarrassed.
The Zoroark reached into his mane and pulled out a Pearl Clan outfit and a pair of geta sandals. “Hold these,” he said, handing them to Kaname.
“Just don’t...laugh, okay?” he asked, stepping away from her.
She gave him a genuine smile, “I won’t.”
He remained the same height, almost a head taller than Kaname. His long strawberry blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail; the fringes framed his pale face. Although he had a physical shirt, he had transformed with tight pants on. He was very beautiful.
“Why not just transform with all the clothes?” Kaname asked, holding out the Pearl Clan outfit to him.
“Clothing can be difficult,” he answered, taking it from her. He voice was the same. “It’s about prrresenation...cloth moving the wrrrong way can be more obvious than even some facial errors.”
“Huh,” was all Kaname said. All the Unovan Zoroark she had met just transformed with the whole outfit.
He adjusted his sleeves and held out his arm for Kaname again. “I’m still verrry warm, I prromise,” he told her, looking away again, still a bit embarrassed.
She smiled. He was very odd for a ghost type.
“We’re almost to the otherrr exit,” he told her as she grabbed his arm again.
They walked in silence for a while, until Kaname started mumbling to herself: “Zo-ro-aa-ku...Ro-aa-ku...ku, ku...zo-ru-a....ru, ru...”
“What are you doing?”
“Thinking,” she said. “Ku, ru, kuru... ru, ka, ruka -- Ruka!”
“What?”
“You, your name,”
“What,” he said again, quietly.
“Ruka-kun,” she pointed at him. She was giving him the sweetest little smile he had ever seen. This woman had stabbed him not even an hour ago. The humans said the woman who fell from the sky had an odd affinity for Pokemon, though this was....
“Princess Ruka,” she laughed.
He turned away from her, blushing, embarrassed again.
“You are very beautiful,” Kaname told him. His face got more red. “She must’ve been very special,” she continued since he said nothing, “this woman you used to know.” It was a pretty safe bet that her general look is what Kaname was looking at now.
“Y-yeah,” he said quietly.
Sunlight poured in from the hole in the ice ahead of them. Kaname looked up through it, looking in the sky for Lord Braviary.
“You are...going to make me come with you...are you not?” Ruka asked, crossing his arms. “You gave me a name and ev’rrrything.”
“I’m not gonna make you do anything,” Kaname told him. “But you’re welcome to come along if you’d like.” She smiled at him again as she pulled her flute out of her bag.
The haunting melody she played on the flute sent a weird shiver up Ruka’s spine.
“Do you really think I got this far by making my Pokemon do things?” Kaname asked, “I can’t fight deities with allies I forced to be here.”
“Sorrry, you’re going to what?”
The sound of giant wings beating came from overhead. The Lord Braviary slowly lowered himself through the hole in the ice, causing a small vortex of wind. He came to a rest on the icy floor of the cave.
“We’re gonna close the rift,” Kaname declared, with a smile. The last of the wind was still moving the ends of her kimono. Ruka couldn’t tell if he was seeing insanity or confidence in her eyes. It could have been both. “Doesn’t that sound like fun?” She laughed, holding her hand out to him.
Fun?
The Zoroark couldn’t help but laugh. This whole scene was so serious - the giant Lord Braviary staring him down, her confident stance, the wind moving her kimono. The whole world on this woman’s shoulders, who had been cast out by her own kind. And here she was with a giant smile on her face, genuinely calling her situation “fun”.
Maybe it would be though.
Ruka ran forward and took her hand, still laughing.
“Well, then all aboard!” she laughed, gesturing towards Braviary behind her.