Zoroark Story Preview

I hated seeing her like this.  The sickness only got worse even as she took more medicine.  Little of the passing sunlight made it through the drawn blinds to our small room, but I could feel the day slipping away while I watched her sleep.

I looked down at my claws, as red as after any fight.  How long had it been?  We didn't even qualify to stay at pokemon centers anymore.  Instead we stayed in a tiny room in a section of Castelia where even I feared what the humans might try.  Riah didn't seem to care.

I approached the bed.  Sweat drenched her thin top despite having the blankets thrown aside.  She looked pale and gaunt, a shell of her vibrant self.  Two months had almost destroyed her.

I crept onto the bed, careful not to startle her awake – more of a hope that I could.  Sometimes I could barely wake her at all.  Her chest rose in shallow breaths.  Every day I feared that she may just stop and never wake again.  I bent to lick a drop of sweat from her sunken cheeks and attempted to nudge her awake.

“Zorrr,” I rumbled in a low voice close to her ear.  Other humans found my harsh tone intimidating, but Riah never had.  Nothing.  This time, I spoke in her language.  “Riah.”

I still remembered the first time I let her hear me try it.

Riah's eyes bulged, and she stopped dead in the middle of the path.  “Did you just say my name?” and her face split into a wide smile.  She slammed into me in a fierce hug, laughing like a madwoman.  “That's incredible.  How?”

I barely kept my feet, the nagging embarrassment at what I'd done quickly vanishing before her embrace.

She relented, twinkling eyes a mirror of her bubbly stance.  “They didn't know what they'd done when they gave you to me.  You're incredible.”

I glowed at her praise.

Riah mumbled without opening her eyes.  “Del?”  She tried to brush me away, but her hand didn't have the strength behind it, and my soft coat rebuffed her.  “What do you want?”

“Eat.”  I rarely spoke entire sentences.  Single words were usually enough, and Riah always understood me, even before I could speak the human language.

She sighed as if she hadn't spent the last day and a half in bed.  “There's some food for you in my pack.  Don't have to ask.”

I growled softly.  “You.”

She opened her vacant eyes this time and blinked against the darkness.  “I'm not hungry.”

During our rise to fame, other humans had fawned over Riah.  Now her long black hair lay about her in tangles.  Not enough light entered the room to shine off her days-unwashed locks.  Even her familiar scent smelled stale.

“Besides, there's nothing.  What's left is for you.”  She reached out with a trembling hand along the wall, feeling for the light-switch.

I flipped it on.  “You eat.”

Riah cringed against the wan light.  “I said it's yours.  You need to eat too.  Besides, I told you, I'm not hungry.”  Illness hadn't taken her stubbornness.

“Wait.”  I leaned down to lick her face once more before rising.  Riah's small satchel remained empty from the last time I'd done this, and I took the room key from the table.  I looked back before leaving.  “Shower.”

Riah had managed to prop herself up on her elbows, facing the bedsheets.  She panted, looking ready to vomit.  A small grunt was her only reply.

Once outside the room, I wrapped myself in an illusion so others wouldn't notice me.  The key and lock were awkward to operate with claws, but I managed.  Leaving Riah alone even for a short time put me on edge.  I wouldn't dare leave her alone with the door unlocked, not in this place.

The same yellowing lights illuminated the hallway, and the air smelled of mold and sweat.  I hated this place, but Riah didn't have the money for anything else.  Pokemon centers offered rooms to trainers, but we lost our eligibility, and Castelia had more people than rooms at the best of times.  Even her illness didn't give them an exception.

Dusk had fallen outside, and I scanned the empty street expectantly.  Despite my invisibility, the humans that braved this area at night made the most savage pokemon I'd known seem tame.  Just a block from our hotel I saw a human stab another.  They might not have claws or powers, but they made up for it with wicked blades that put any claw or fang to shame.  The human died while I watched from the shadows.  The attacker didn't hesitate to leave the man for dead.  Most of the city wasn't like this.  I hurried, anxious to return to Riah.

The store I chose had aisles upon aisles of food.  Riah explained the concept of money to me plenty of times.  I understood its use, but not its purpose.  Why didn't someone help her?  They could.  No number of humans could eat all of the food that lined dozens of shelves.  Why would they refuse to help one of their own?  Why would the doctors turn her away, only trade her medicine for money?  Couldn't they see she just needed to recover.  Then we could fight again, earn the money they wanted.

I forced my fists to unclench.  I let those questions fuel a growing hatred for a species I once marveled at.  Not all of them deserved disgust.  Riah had gave me everything.  She at least deserved my awe.

I didn't take much.  Some foods humans would only eat after cooking.  I couldn't, and Riah didn't any longer.

Fresh cut meats sat behind a glass barrier.

Riah pulled me by the wrist through the crowded store, heedless of the disapproving glances the other shoppers shot at us, me in particular.  None of the other humans had pokemon out with them, and my large mane tended to brush against people.

She stopped before a section displaying various cuts of meat and fish.  The display radiated cold air – a chill that carried the tangy scent of fresh blood.  My mouth watered.

Riah spoke with a man at the counter.  He wore white and carried a vicious wedge of metal with a razor-sharp edge.  Riah called them employees.  The one she spoke with retreated behind thick plastic door-coverings.

I leaned close to Riah's ear, wary of the humans.  “Others.”

“Ignore them.  There's no rule against bringing you here.  They're just jealous of your good looks.”  She rubbed the top of my head affectionately, and the man returned.

“Here you go.  The best cut we had on hand, just like you requested.”  He handed over a parcel that looked wrapped in white paper.  His eyes regarded me for a moment.  “That's a rare pokemon you have, well behaved.  You're Riah, right?”

She winked at him.  “The one and only.  Del here is amazing.”  Only half of her attention was on the conversation however.  She cradled the parcel, eyes agleam.  She nudged me after peeling back the taped paper.  Ribbons of fat spidered the dark slabs of meat, almost enough to make them look pink.  “One bite and you won't want to eat anything else for the rest of your life.”

A human walked into me.

I dodged away from the confused human who looked around for what he'd just ran into.  I'd lost myself looking through the clear barrier.  Invisible or not, even the most distracted human would notice running into a solid object.  Luckily, the man didn't make a scene and continued on with a  puzzled look.

Invisibility made it easy to get in and out without needing money, and I took as little as possible to avoid suspicion.  Bread, dried meat, some packaged pastries.  I took a single Hondew berry.  They were her favorite.

I slipped through the exit and back onto the streets of Castelia.  The eerie quiet gave an ominous feel to the journey, and I felt watched despite my illusion.  No one bothered me.

The lock to our room gave me a moment of trouble, but once inside, I was glad to hear the shower's loud patter.  Humidity brought out the moldy smell, but at least Riah dragged herself out of bed.  I placed Riah's satchel next to the bed and entered the bathroom.

Riah hadn't bothered to draw the plastic sheet, and a small pool of water had formed next to the tub.  I froze.  Riah sat in the off-white tub with the water splashing across her body.  Unmoving.  Dead.

I don't remember moving through the intervening space.  I grabbed her shoulders, nicking her soft skin.  She bled.

The motion brought Riah around, and she opened her eyes and spoke in a groggy voice.  The water had little effect on her.  “What are you doing?”  Her chest rose and fell normally.  She sat up a little straighter.

Relief and embarrassment vied equally for my attention.  “Sorry.  Food.”  I withdrew slightly, finally noticing the water soaking into my arms.  Fur took forever to dry completely.

She grumbled something inaudible but leaned forward and gripped the sides of the tub.  Her limbs looked so frail and atrophied.  She paused amidst the rushing water and brought a hand to forehead before slumping forward.

I turned off the water and grabbed the towel off the sink.  Riah remained slumped, water rolling off her skin.  I dried her off the best I could while she sat in the tub, and helped her up.  She rest most of her weight on me as I dragged her to her feet.  I lifted her easily.

She me lead her to her bed, half stumbling along.  I laid her down on the lumpy mattress and crawled up next to her.  Humans didn't have fur to keep them warm, probably why they didn't like being naked, and I hugged her limp body close to mine.  Her naked skin felt balmy against me, but despite the heat of the shower and my mane covering her like a blanket, she shook in my arms.  Water seeped into my fur from her damp hair.

I clung desperately to her, uselessly.  She refused to eat what little food we had because I might go hungry, even as she wasted away.  And I could do nothing to make her better.  I hated myself, and I clung to the only person I cared about, hoping that maybe tomorrow things would go back to how they were.