Reader (Male) X Zoroark (Female) A Dark Bond

The Time Has Come

Time has passed since that encounter with Zaine. It's been almost a month, and if he was correct, Azrael would be coming after you in less than two days. In between then and now, you had tried isolating yourself when you could, which was more often than not in the middle of the night, and tried to get yourself lucid enough to talk to Zaine. His theory... as well as his methods were... it was difficult to put into words, but up to current time, you seemed to have a decent idea of how it worked and how to keep it under control. Today was the first day you've been anywhere else except on Melemele Island.

You had left several of your Pokémon behind to stay with your parents out of paranoia that Azrael might try something. You left Primarina, Incineroar, Gallade, Ninetales, Lycanroc, and Noivern behind to protect your parents in case something happened. You knew they had Sharpedo and Kangaskhan, but you didn't want to take any chances. You were concerned about taking Io with you, but Zora wouldn't go with you if Io wasn't coming. So, you had Zora, Io, Shadow, Lucario, Glaceon, Mawile, and Salazzle with you. You were walking with Zora, Shadow, Io, and Lucario out. Before you had left for Poni Island, you had one last run in with Guzma, explaining to him everything he needed to know. He told you that he'd get the champion involved as well as Olivia.

Walking through Poni Plains, you were looking around, eyeing out the environment for any open places. Some spots seemed decent, but you couldn't find any place that had some kind of obstacles in the middle. Zora wasn't entirely on board with what you've told her about the plan, but by some miracle, she seemed to have realized that it was now or never. As you were making your way to the clan, you could catch several other people looking at you from all around. They were distant, but you could make them out. Zora had your weapon while Io was sitting in your arms. Lucario and Shadow were beside each other, but Lucario seemed uneasy about all the people looking around. Eventually though, you stopped, which made Zora stop, and that made Lucario and Shadow stop. Let's just hope that what Zaine was teaching you wasn't just hogwash. Zora was about to say something, but she stopped herself, and as you looked around, you could see the people closing in on you. As they started getting closer, you clenched your right hand shut, still feeling the gauze wrapped around it. Releasing the tension in your hand as you relaxed, you saw them coming up to you. Lucario was turning her head around, looking at each of them as they came closer, all while getting into a defensive stance. You looked over at Lucario.

"It's alright Lucario. Take it easy." Lucario looked at you a bit surprised, standing up straight, but still cautious. The group got as close as a few yards away, then they stopped, but you could feel all of them looking at you. One took a couple steps forward, and he showed the back of his hand, showing the tree, the human, and the Zoroark. Once you saw this, you raised your right arm in front of you, then started ripping off the gauze. Wincing as some of the bands tightened on your arm before falling to the floor, you felt your hand being exposed to the air. The back of your hand showed the scar you had. The tree, the Zoroark, the human, and the roots from your skin cracking. They seemed to relax, and their illusions quickly wore off. As several Zoroarks surrounded you, you caught sight of a lone Zoroark coming up to you. At first, you thought it was Torben or Ashlyn, but as they got closer, it wasn't either of them. He had something in his hand, and when he held it up to you, you were surprised. It was a purple claw, wrapped into a necklace by a small string.

"Please, take this. My... speech... isn't the greatest when it comes to your... language." You had several surges of emotions as you looked at the claw, but as you looked back at the Zoroark, you calmed yourself down.

"Are Torben and Ashlyn in the cave?" The Zoroark nodded his head, and with that, you turned your head towards the entrance. As you walked towards the cave, surrounded by the other Zoroarks, you looked at the necklace given to you. Staring at it, you were given that surge of emotions again. Anger, hatred, satisfaction, but not in a good way, and even malice. Still, even feeling these emotions, you stayed completely calm. This didn't feel right, but there was nothing you could really do about it. Despite the memory coming back as clear as day, it didn't seem to enrage you at all. You turned your head to Zora, and you could see she was staring at you. She saw the necklace, then she reached over and held onto your hand. The same hand that was holding the necklace.