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A corner of the forest had turned a somber grey. The edges of each leaf and branch became fuzzy, unreal, like an old, forgotten photograph. The sound of wind whistling through the canopy could be heard, but everything stood still.
When it happened, the few Pokémon in the surrounding area had fled. Such a strange occurance could only mean one thing, and a Zoroark claiming its territory with its illusions was not to be trifled with. But here N stood, at the edge of the illusion's zone, breathing a sigh of relief. He'd recognize this illusion anywhere.
"Here you are," he said, "Carracosta and the others said they hadn't seen you since we woke up. Zekrom and I have been looking for you, thank goodness I could see this place from the sky."
Zoroark sat in the middle of his broken illusion, staring blankly at a few blurred shapes in front of him. His ear twitched when N approached, but he didn't turn around.
N frowned, slowly walking closer to Zoroark. "...Hello? Are you alright? What are you doing all the way out here, anyway--"
He stopped. Now that he'd come closer, those fuzzy shapes in front of Zoroark had become slightly clearer. Some were still barely recognizable, but...
"...These Pokémon. We used to know them before we went to live in the castle, didn't we?"
In total, there were five figures that Zoroark had conjured. Directly in front of him were Darmanitan and two Woobat. Darmanitan was the only Pokémon that was shown clearly, but even he was stuck in greyscale. One Woobat was more blurred than the other. On the sides were a Haxorus and a Leavanny. Those two were so blurred it was hard to tell who they were.
"It's been a while since we left," Zoroark finally said, in a hushed tone, "What did you say? Three weeks?"
N nodded. He and Zoroark had spent over a decade in the castle playroom, now suddenly they were thrust back into the world beyond. That day happened to be the day N planned to leave Unova and go on a journey — they'd all have been on their way by now if Zoroark hadn't disappeared that morning.
"Being out and about all this time, seeing the outside again. It just got me thinking about the forest we used to live in, and all the Pokémon we used to play with."
As Zoroark reminisced, N sat beside him. He stared up at Darmanitan's smiling face. So over-the-top but so big-hearted, just how N remembered him.
Zoroark waved his paw in the direction of the blurry Woobat. The illusion shifted, like it was finally starting to come into focus, before it fell back into a state that almost looked worse than before. He dug his claws into the dirt.
"They took such good care of us. They mean so much to me. I swear they do. But I... I..."
Zoroark tried to adjust the illusions again. They twitched, flickered in and out of view and shifted positions, until Zoroark suddenly started to cry. Holes appeared in the illusion, like tears in paper. Haxorus's face, Leavanny's torso, and the entirety of one of the Woobat were gone, replaced with a glimpse into the colored reality behind the veil.
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," he barely managed to choke out, "I can't remember what they look like anymore. I don't know why. I thought I could see them one more time before we left but I can't do it!"
N was at Zoroark's side in an instant. He held his paws while he crumpled in on himself. "Zoroark, you don't have to be sorry about that. It's not your fault."
"I know they existed. They were around all the time. I'm supposed to be able to make a perfect copy of them right here because I'm supposed to remember exactly what they look like. But it's just gone..."
N looked at Zoroark's illusion again. He didn't know when exactly, but at some point, Zoroark's illusions did start to change. They weren't always still and greyscale. Like any other Zoroark, he could conjure the image of the forest they used to live in flawlessly. They used to play with the illusory Darmanitan he created. They'd keep revisiting the forest like that every now and then, but eventually, the colors began to fade. It took greater effort for Zoroark to make it appear. N had chalked up the fading colors to childhood nostalgia, but it reached a point where N couldn't deny just how badly Zoroark's illusions had deteriorated. They both stopped trying to see the forest after that realization.
This was the first time in a while that N had seen Zoroark attempt an illusion that wasn't just copying the appearance of a Pokémon in the immediate vicinity. This was also the worst state N had seen an illusion in.
"...I've been trying all morning. Trying to fix this stupid thing. None of these look exactly like them."
"They don't have to," N replied, "You've done so well."
Zoroark didn't believe that for a moment. How could N say that when everything surrounding them looked so wrong? It shouldn't look this way, if Zoroark truly cared about his loved ones then he wouldn't have needed the reminders N gave him. It wasn't even just what they looked like, Zoroark couldn't remember their voices or personality either! Everything from that time was a blur at best, completely missing at worst.
N lightly squeezed Zoroark's paw, getting his attention after he'd zoned out. "...Haxorus's left tusk. Hers was broken. She claimed it broke in a fight with Landorus that she won, but Darmanitan said she was making it up to look cooler."
Zoroark's ears perked up. He stared at N for a moment, before wiping his eyes and turning to the fading image of the dragon Pokémon. Slowly, the hole in the illusion stitched itself back together, and Haxorus's face reappeared, now complete with the broken tusk. She remained blurry, but she was much more recognizable than before.
"Leavanny liked to use different leaves for his cloaks than the others," N continued, "He used to say that leaves off of a Pecha Berry tree were softer and nicer, worth the fact they were harder to work with. We could never tell the difference, though."
Once again, Zoroark adjusted his illusion. The leaf cloak didn't look exactly like the real thing, but it was close enough.
"And big sister Woobat... She was a little bit taller than her brother. She had a darker fur color, too. I wonder... if she's evolved by now, like she always said she was looking forward to."
Woobat was brought back to the illusion, and once again adjusted to fit N's description. Zoroark even started trying to add color, shifting through a few hues, before growing exasperated and letting her fade back to grey.
"I still... Can't remember all of it. At this point I don't even know if I'll remember what you just told me."
"It's alright, Zoroark. I can remind you."
You shouldn't have to, Zoroark thought. But he nodded anyway. "...Thanks. Sorry for worrying everyone, by the way. But if it's alright, I just want to... stay here for a little while longer. I know you want to set off on your journey as soon, as possible, but--"
"Please, take all the time you need." N gazed wistfully at Darmanitan, "I think I'd like to spend some time here with them too."
Hearing that, Zoroark turned away from N, back to staring at their old friends like how N found him.
N looked at them with a fond, bittersweet smile. Zoroark closed his eyes.