Hello, hello, I'm just posting my omake from Spacebattles as requested.
Cold.
The moment Astra collided with the tall, seemingly ordinary man in the crowded street, an inexplicable chill coursed through her body, unlike anything she had ever experienced before. It wasn't the familiar nip of a snowy winter's day or the sensation of being soaked with rain, but a different kind of cold that left her feeling drained and hopeless, as if surrendering on the spot and collapsing into a quivering heap was her only option. She quickly snapped out of the strange trance, reflexively letting out a startled shriek and backing away, only to bump her back against another person in the large stifling crowd she was surrounded by.
Her sudden outburst caught the attention of a few passersby, but they soon returned to their commute. The dark-haired man she had bumped into, however, remained rooted to the spot, studying her with a measured, curious expression. His appearance was immaculate, with a stylish, foreign hat perched on his head and an impeccably tailored black suit with red accents that probably cost more than everything she owned combined.
"Are you alright, miss?" he asked, his voice deep and low, somehow cutting through the noise of the bustling crowd despite its relatively quiet volume. She couldn't detect any traces of telepathy, at least not in a way that she understood.
Astra's heart raced, her palms damp with sweat, and her fingers trembling within her robes as she struggled to meet the man's piercing blue gaze with her own scarlet eyes. "I...I'm sorry," she stammered, "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."
His lips stretched into an easy smile, and somehow Astra found the deliberateness of the action to be deeply unsettling. "It's no harm. It's pretty crowded around here after all." He shrugged, turning back to the direction he had been previously walking towards. "Be careful where you're looking, don't want to risk running into someone unsavory after all."
With those casually foreboding words, the man shoved his hands into the pockets of his expensive blazer and walked away without giving her a second glance. Astra watched him go in morbid fascination, unaware of the way she was making a nuisance by standing in the center and forcing the crowd to move around her as they shot her dirty, annoyed looks.
She tentatively held a hand to her shoulder, recalling that strange chill that had enveloped her when the man's elbow had made contact with her. And not just that, but there was that sudden jolt of fear she had felt from the brief touch alone, an irrational reaction that called to mind something primal and instinctual. It was similar to how she felt when she entered a dark room or sensed an unseen movement behind her. How odd, that had never happened to her.
He couldn't have been a regular human, not with that kind of reaction. Who or what was he? She hadn't felt any psychic energy from their interaction, that couldn't be something she would miss considering her nature.
Astra's mind was struck by a terrible idea, and before she could rationalize her actions, she felt her feet moving towards the direction the well-dressed man had left. Despite the logical side of her mind screaming for her to stop and return to the safety of the hotel where May and Brendan were waiting for her, she was overwhelmed by a reckless impulse. It was the same feeling she had experienced when she first explored a human city, or when she learned that traveling to the moon was possible. The curiosity and thrill of the unknown were too strong to resist.
Breaking out into a light jog, Astra pushed and shouldered her way through the crowd, mumbling sheepish apologies as she went. It was horribly rude, but the man's figure was quickly fading away into the sea of people. She had to hurry if she wanted to catch up to him. His hat was the only thing she could make out in the distance, and her stupid short legs weren't helping keep up in the slightest.
Stealth wasn't exactly her specialty, but thanks to those classical spy movies that Brendan had insisted on showing her whenever they had free time, Astra had learned enough to keep a fair distance away from the man without raising suspicion. However, as she watched him from afar, she couldn't help but feel foolish for her sudden obsession. What would she say if he caught her following him? Apologize and admit that she was being a creepy stalker because she was curious about the way her psychic powers had reacted? That sounded like a terrible idea.
Abruptly, the man broke away from the crowd and veered onto a side road. Astra hastened to follow him without arousing suspicion, but the sudden absence of bodies to around her to blend with left her feeling exposed. She'd have to be slower to compensate.
Astra's eyes fixated on the man's every movement. He certainly seemed normal enough, if clearly more well off compared to most people. There was a confidence to the way he walked, as if he had no cares in the world and was on top of everything. But as she continued to quietly trail the man, she observed with no small amount of surprise as his casual gait began to change with small minute changes that she likely wouldn't have noticed if she wasn't focusing on him so much. His back slouched, his shoulders widened, his knees were slightly bent in an unusual position for a human. His method of moving resembled less of a walk and more of a…prowl.
Definitely not a regular human, Astra felt vindicated by that.
That momentary sense of victory came to a screeching halt as the mystery man turned and entered an alleyway.
She was suddenly really regretting not going back to the hotel.
Astra surveyed her surroundings nervously as she realized the man had led her downtown to a more secluded location. There were a few people around her, but she didn't trust them to intervene if they noticed her slip into an alleyway by her lonesome and not return. She nervously ran her hand over Grovyle's Poké Ball, trusting that he would be able to keep her safe despite her nerves.
Screw it! She had come this far already, she was too invested to simply turn her back and leave.
"This is so stupid," she muttered under her breath. She momentarily considered calling Brendan and May for back up, but she neither wanted to endanger them for the sake of her curiosity or have to explain her reasoning for stalking a random person she talked to for all of ten seconds.
Gulping, she slowly shuffled closer to the opening of the alleyway. Peeking her head out from the side, she narrowed her eyes and saw… nothing. There was no one there. Eyes widening in befuddlement, Astra abandoned her earlier apprehension and entered the clearing. As her eyes scanned through her surroundings, she could see nothing out of the ordinary among the bags of trash littering the grimy floor and the Rattatas gorging themselves on them.
Frowning, she sent out a weak psychic pulse but didn't pick up on anything notable. Not even that chill she had felt earlier from touching the stranger. Where could he have gone? He couldn't have just vanished into thin air! Maybe he noticed her following him and climbed up to the rooftops to escape her? Aw, now she felt like a creep…
In her confused disappointment, her hand lowered from Grovyle's Poké Ball.
Little did she know, that was a mistake.
She heard something shift behind her, and only had enough time to whirl around in alarm before a dark blur tackled her. Her back slammed against the dirty alley with enough force to force the breath out of her lungs. She didn't have time to so much as shriek in alarm before she felt a hand envelop her neck, pinning her to the wall as pale blue eyes coldly observed her below the rim of the stranger's hat. Panicked, she let loose a wave of psychic energy, praying that it would at least disorient him long enough for her to escape.
Nothing happened.
The man didn't flinch, didn't so much as blink in surprise. To her dread, she felt nothing from her probing. No emotions, no thoughts, just dead silence as if she were scanning a brick wall instead of a living person. Realizing the futility of her actions, she tried to reach for Grovyle's Poké Ball, but a hand clamped down onto her wrist with a tight grip, a clear warning for what would happen if she tried.
The man in the hat was significantly taller than her, forcing her to crane her head high up just to look at his face, his cold dispassionate eyes. Even though she was already pinned flat against the wall, she uselessly tried to press herself further as he leaned forward, his head dipping close to hers. What was going to happen now? Was he going to hurt her? Hold her hostage? Steal her Pokémon? Astra had rarely been in danger like this, and getting chased by feral Poochyenas or fighting Pokémon thieves wasn't quite the same as a stranger looming over her and deciding her fate. She was freaking out! She was-
"Your nose shifted," he dismissively said before releasing her.
Astra fell forward as soon as she was released, landing on her knees. She blinked up at him in confusion. "I- what?"
"Your nose shifted," he repeated, tapping his own for emphasis. "I gave you a slight push and already your form is changing out of panic." He clicked his tongue, shaking his head like a disappointed parent. "Sloppy, young one."
She shakily stood up on wobbly legs, a hand laid out across her chest as she tried to reign in her wildly beating heart. "A- a slight push!? You slammed me into a wall!"
He smirked. "And you stalked me and followed me into an alleyway. How else am I supposed to interpret that?" he plainly said, his voice pleasant and jolly as if they were discussing something as normal as the weather. "Let's just say we're even."
Her cheeks lit up at the, admittedly accurate, accusation. "I… uh, I was just curious." Seeing that the person in front of her didn't seem to be hostile, she straightened up and relaxed, though still backed up a safe space backwards and kept a hand close to her belt just in case. She tipped her head down apologetically. "I'm sorry, I should have handled that better. When I bumped into you back there, I felt something completely alien. I just had to know what your deal was."
The stranger dismissively waved a hand. "Not to worry! If I got angry at every person who stalked and cornered me in an alley, then I would have no friends by now."
"Uh, okay." Astra was taken aback by his carefree attitude. She certainly wouldn't be so casual after a situation like that. But that didn't matter, there was a much more pressing situation. "You…noticed my illusion." And didn't freak out either. Hope blossomed in her chest at the implications. "Are you also a…" she trailed off nervously.
"Hm." In lieu of an answer, the man laid a hand under his chin and circled her, though refrained from getting too close thankfully. Underneath her cloak, Astra wrapped her arms around herself self-consciously, finding his probing eyes uncomfortable. He stopped in front of her, tilting his head in apparent fascination. "Psychic illusion, huh? Works a bit differently from mine but the theory behind it is similar enough. A bit amateurish here and there, but not bad, that cloak of yours was a smart move. I've seen Zoruas near evolution with less authentic disguises than yours."
"Oh, um, thanks?" Of all the things she was expecting to hear from him, it certainly wasn't a critique. She didn't know what a 'Zorua' was, but it seemed like he was complimenting her at least. The amateur comment stung, but it admittedly wasn't inaccurate. It was a miracle she had made it this far with only a few screw-ups. "Wait, your one isn't psychic?" Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You're not like me then?"
He smiled again, but it was far too wide to fit a human's face. As if that wasn't alarming enough, the fact that his teeth had transformed into sharp fangs was. "Something like that." A dark, dim light enveloped his form, far different from her own instantaneous way of disguising herself. She watched with morbid fascination as he changed shapes before her wide eyes.
His face shifted into a pointed snout reminiscent of a canine, black and grey fur with red accents appearing shortly afterwards onto every visible inch of his body as his clothes vanished into thin air, only his hat remaining. What little of the short, dark hair visible underneath his hat grew into a large, red, voluminous mane with black tips, tied into a ponytail, with a teal bangle down its length separating a mass of the mane from the lower portion. His hands, once tanned and stubby, were now paws that ended with sharp red claws that looked like they could disembowel her with a single swipe.
Astra backed away from him, from the thing in front of her. It was like a giant Poochyena or Mightyena that could stand on two legs and had the intelligence and abilities reminiscent of a Kirlia. The very thought was horrifying. His intelligent, mirthful mirthful eyes followed her every move, like a Delkitty playing with its prey before butchering it. "What are you?" she whispered.
His muzzle stretched into a wide grin, an uncannily human expression for the face of a creature that was anything but human. "Now, now, there's no need to sound so offended. Despite what your kind may think, us dark-types have feelings too," he said, removing his hat, the only article of human clothing he seemed to physically wear, to reveal two pointed ears that twitched with apparent relief. "Ah, it's always nice to let them breathe for a moment," he sighed contentedly. "And if you must know, my people are referred to as Zoroarks. I doubt you've heard of us, we mostly reside in the Unova region and try our best to stay away from civilization."
Astra's eyes widened in realization. A dark-type? Now it made sense! No wonder she couldn't get a read on him earlier, dark-types completely negated her powers. That chill she had felt when he bumped into her must have been a self-defense mechanism of some kind using dark-type energy and negative emotions. With that mystery solved, now all she had to do was not get viciously murdered and eaten by the large predator looming over her. "Well, if you guys stay away from people so much, how come you're disguising yourself as a human in a human city?"
"Do you believe yourself to be the only one of your kind, girl? Pokémon and humans have coexisted for millenniums. You aren't the first to disguise yourself with the face of a human, and you certainly won't be the last." The Zoroark snickered. "As dull as humans can be with the way they keep the same name, face, and desires for the entirety of their lives, they're certainly not lacking in entertainment. I'm on a vacation of sorts, always did like to travel." His eyes drifted to the belt obscured underneath her cloak. "Now, seeing as I've answered your question, how about you answer mine. You're passing yourself off as a trainer?"
"Uh…yeah! Not just passing, I am a trainer. Already got two badges too!" she replied with a poor show of bravado. It was less about bragging and more about convincing him that she was a threat and not worth the effort of attacking if he was still considering it.
Judging by his amused expression, she failed miserably. "Truly?" The dark-type's shoulders shook with poorly concealed mirth. "A Pokémon becoming a Pokémon trainer? Now that's the richest thing I've ever heard in a long while."
Tilting his head back, he released a loud, harsh bark of laughter that urged her to defend herself. "I'm not doing this for fun! I'm on an important mission for the sake of my village. It's only a matter of time before the humans find us, and then who knows what will happen," she explained seriously. "That's why I'm going to become champion. Then we might have a chance. I'll have enough power that they'll have to see us as equals, not just creatures to battle and capture."
The Zoroark didn't seem enthused by the rationale, if anything he seemed downright angered as his amused, casual attitude faded into something darker. "And to do this, you're going to do what exactly? Capture and battle Pokémon yourself? That seems rather hypocritical, isn't it?" He scoffed. "Is that your dream then? Yes, go ahead and place yourselves on a pedestal and teach those humans to treat you as equals. Meanwhile, I suppose the rest of us savages can remain to be beaten into submission, enslaved, and forced to fight your battles for you."
"That's not the same and you know it." Astra frowned, offended by the accusation of hypocrisy. "My partners chose to fight with me and help me with my dream. I never forced them to stay with me, and I'd let them go in a heartbeat if they ever asked. And-"
"Enough!" the dark-type snarled, silencing Astra instantly as she took a few steps back in worry. "I didn't come here to debate ethics, girl. You want to join the humans in lording over the rest of us? Fine, I don't have any stake in any of this."
Astra threw her arms up in frustration. "If you don't care, then why are you being such a jerk about it?" she pointed out.
"Because it's a foolish dream," the Zoroark shot back without an ounce of hesitation. "Your plan is to gather eight gym badges, fight your way through the Pokémon League, and overthrow one of the strongest trainers in the world for his throne to announce your existence to the entire world in hopes of co-existing in peace? Apologies, but that is downright one of the most idiotic things I have ever heard in my many decades of living."
"You think I don't know that?" Astra puffed her cheeks up in annoyance. "I know it's reckless, I know that it's even stupid, but it's all I have. My village believes in me, and the elder himself gave me his blessing."
The dark-type canine snorted. "Then your elder is a fool."
Whatever apprehensions she had about throwing down with the unsettlingly clever dark-type vanished right there and then. Type advantage or not, no one was allowed to insult her grandfather and get away with it. Astra stepped forward, her eyes alighting with psychic energy as the hem of her cloak was lifted into the air. "Don't call him that. Don't you dare!" she hissed. "You better take that back right now or else-"
"Or else what?" The Zoroark interjected with a cruel smirk. "Please, your feeble psychic moves wouldn't even tickle me. The only reason you're able to communicate with me through telepathy is because I've lowered my defenses to allow it. And let's not pretend that someone as young as you can handle the power of fairy-type energy, which hits harder than a mere sneeze."
She blinked, her anger momentarily replaced with confusion. "Uh, fairy-type?" Slowly, the hem of her cloak gently drifted back down to the ground, her earlier aura of energy vanishing. "What are you talking about? I can't do any of that."
The Zoroark's hostility vanished in turn. "What? How do you not know about that?" He squinted, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. "Hm, I suppose your kind in Kalos is more in-tune with that aspect."
Astra straightened up in alarm. "Wait, what?" She rushed forward, causing the Zoroark to back up and momentarily lose his composure for the first time in surprise as his personal space was suddenly invaded by the intrigued psychic. "You've met other Ralts and Kirlia out there!? What are they like? Do they have any Gardevoirs with them? How far away do they even live? Do they have villages too or-"
"Personal space, please," he dryly muttered.
Astra flushed, backing away a respectable distance with her hands raised. "Oh! Sorry!" She shook her head vigorously, green hair whipping around with the motion. "I just- I don't know anything about others of my people outside of the village. We have stories about them existing, but that's not nearly enough. I can't even imagine how different they must be."
The dark-typed shrugged his furred shoulders. "Afraid I haven't the slightest clue about any of your questions. I've seen some of your kind with trainers in the past, but only in passing. I'd certainly have heard about there being an entire village of them if they existed. So either there are none or they've remained undiscovered like your own one."
"Oh…" Astra lowered her head in disappointment. She had been eagerly looking forward to learning more about her own species, only to be left hanging—this felt like what May would call being 'blueballed'. The knowledge that some of her people had been captured and trained was deeply unsettling. Her own Pokémon seemed comfortable and content with their arrangement, but sometimes she looked down at their Poké Ball and wondered just how they could live their lives in service to another like that; she herself certainly couldn't do it. So hearing that it was indeed a reality was a bitter pill to swallow.
The Zoroark was silent for a moment, before an annoyed sigh escaped him. "Oh, don't look so glum now, dear. You'll ruin that adorable face of yours. Come now, at least you know others of your kind exist out there," he pointed out. "With the way you're going I'm certain you'll run into one yourself eventually, then you can annoy them with all the questions you want."
She nodded slowly. "I guess." Well, at least he was trying to comfort her, that was something. She suddenly felt guilty about her earlier suspicions. "Oh! I almost forgot, my name is Astra." She tilted her head. "What's your name, Mr?"
The Zoroark shook his head. "Doesn't matter. If we ever meet again, chances are I'll have a new one anyway." He glanced to the opening of the alleyway with an unreadable expression. "Can't be too careful with humans. They're a vicious lot, a single sniff of something suspicious and I can kiss my freedom goodbye."
"They're not that bad," Astra defended, thinking back to the friends awaiting her back in their shared lodgings. "I mean, I've met a lot of humans that are jerks, but I've met way more who are kind and worth being friends with. I wouldn't have gotten this far without my human friends following me and supporting me from practically the very start."
He made a dismissive noise in turn. "They're your friends now, yes, but will they stay like that?"
Astra's face scrunched up. "What do you mean?"
"Would I be correct in assuming they don't know what lies beneath your illusion?"
Astra averted eye contact, nervously running a hand through the front of her cloak. "... Yes."
"I thought so." The Zoroark's tone wasn't as smug as she was expecting, it sounded almost sad in fact. "Come closer, girl, there's something I want to show you." When her eyes fell to his blood-red claws, he simply laughed. "Oh, come now, you jumped at me only a moment ago. I mean you no harm. If that's what I wanted then I would have done that ages ago. No, I simply wish for this to be a teaching moment."
Astra stayed where she was for a moment, before relenting with a sigh. He made a sound argument, he could have turned her to ribbons any time he wanted to but had relented so far. She kept a hand on Grovyle's Poké Ball just in case.
She stopped in front of the dark-type, close enough now that she could touch him with an outstretched hand if she had reason to. Satisfied with her closeness, Zoroark tilted his head up and pointed a claw at his throat. "Now, do you see it?"
Astra leaned forward, squinting to see what he was pointing at. After a moment, she noticed something peculiar among his dark fur: a pink line encircling his neck. It looked like someone had wrapped something thin and tight around his neck for an uncomfortably long time. "Is that... a scar?" she asked, her curiosity piqued. "How did you get it?"
He lowered his head. "From the humans I once called friends much like you do," he spat through gritted teeth. "I was young and curious about human life, much like yourself, so I disguised myself and traveled with them for some time. We traveled through the Unova region side-by-side, watched the stars together, discussed and encouraged our dreams with each other. I thought we were true companions."
Astra swallowed a lump in her throat. Even without her psychic abilities to scan his emotions, she could clearly make out the pain and betrayal in his voice. "It didn't stay like that, huh?"
"No, it didn't. I made the idiotic choice to expose myself, to throw aside the lies so we could call each other friends without the guilt of my deceit eating away at me." There was true regret and pain in his tone. "They turned on me, captured me, and made me their property. My people are rare, most think of us as urban myths or an extinct species. They knew my value, and they jumped to exploit it."
Astra's face fell, a hand rising to cover her mouth in shock. "I…I can't even imagine."
"Do you know what the worst part was?" he asked, his voice filled with bitterness. "They actually thought they were doing me a favour. It still makes my blood boil to this day. They made me eat on the floor like some kind of feral beast, and then had the nerve to tell me I should be grateful for it. They said it was better for me to be with them instead of with a stranger, ignoring how they betrayed my trust. They treated me like property instead of a friend as they once had, and yet had the audacity to act like I was thankful for everything they did for me. It's disgusting."
Astra stayed silent, horrified beyond words.
Zoroark smiled sadly. "You know why I'm telling you this, yes?" At her continued silence, he pressed further. "Do you really think your friends would stand by you if you showed your true nature?" he asked, his voice dripping with skepticism. "Or would they betray you and treat you like a pet, a mere thing to be trained and exploited for their own gain? As a telepathic Pokémon, you'd fetch a high price, especially by being from a species as rare and valued as the Ralts line. You must choose your friends wisely if you want to survive in this world. It's not just your own freedom you're risking, but that of your entire species."
She weakly shook her head. "May and Brendan… they would never do that to me. Even if I told them the truth and things went badly."
The argument sounded feeble even to her. Despite all the laughter and fun they had shared together, it was all too easy to forget that they were still humans and held the power to overpower her, trap her in a Poké Ball, and disregard her autonomy as a person if they so choose. Astra had witnessed moments of unsettling behavior from Brendan, treating the Pokémon he captured for his father's study as mere statistics instead of living beings with their own thoughts and desires, despite the kindness he usually treated his friends and personal Pokémon with. She also couldn't ignore the insensitivity displayed by May, such as ripping her Lotad from its home and initially refusing to let it say goodbye to its friends before she had objected. These instances were etched in her mind, reminding her of the potential dangers of trusting even her closest friends.
The thought of it always lingered in the back of her mind when she laid in bed at night. She hoped that they wouldn't do such a thing, they were such good friends now after all. But the reality was that one day they would learn her true identity no matter what. She couldn't be Astra, the odd human girl, forever, no matter how much she wanted to. Zoroark's revelation had struck her deeply in her most vulnerable spot.
"Your dream is a good one, child." Zoroark absently picked at his claws. "I believed in such a future once too against my people's advice. But humanity has exceeded my expectations in shattering my hopes. With my story as a warning, are you certain you want to continue with your quest? It seems unlikely to end in anything but tragedy. You should consider going home."
Astra's face paled. Go home? After all she had been through? After everything she had learned? No, that was not an option. She was fighting for more than herself now, even for more than just her village. "I can't do that."
Zoroark's eyes narrowed sharply. "And why not?"
"Because giving up won't change anything!" she retorted. "I've come way too far to return to my village empty-handed. And I won't abandon my friends after everything they've done for me."
The Zoroark scoffed, turning away with a scowl. "You owe them nothing. Humans are selfish creatures who are just as likely to offer you a hand as they are a knife to stab you in the back."
"I know that, but May and Brendan are different," Astra began, her tone firm but thoughtful. "Since leaving home, I've learned a lot about humans. They can be messy, selfish, and sometimes downright cruel." Astra paused, her voice softening. "But they're also capable of great kindness. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've met more kind people than cruel ones so far. From the friends who have been traveling with me, to the sailor who fought to be reunited with his partner Pokémon, and even to the elderly man who gave me his prized violin just because I showed an interest in his music. They've all done such amazing things, and I'm grateful to have met them." Astra took a deep breath, her eyes shining with conviction. "I'm sorry for what happened to you, but I can't let it stop me. I believe that a future where we can stand together as equals is worth fighting for, no matter how dangerous it may be."
The dark-type didn't say anything, his expression unreadable as he stared at her. Astra's mind raced, wondering what he might be thinking. Was she just a foolish kid to him? Or did he see her as someone with the drive to actually make a difference? Or perhaps he simply resented her for dredging up bad memories?
Eventually, it became clear that he wasn't going to share his opinion. "I see," he said simply. The taller man sighed and straightened up, arching his back to stretch for a moment. "Well, I guess I can't change your mind then. Can't say I didn't try at least."
Astra blinked. "So…"
"So nothing," he replied. "You have your path to follow and I have my own as well. I can't say I have high hopes that you'll be able to sway humanity, but I certainly wish you luck. Perhaps you'll succeed where I failed."
Astra relaxed her tense shoulders, smiling in appreciation. "Thank you."
"Now then…" He winked at her, his snout and wild mane retracting into itself in a flurry of light as he shifted forms once again. In seconds, a perfectly ordinary human was standing before her, illusionary clothing completing the look as he donned his physical hat once more. She had to admit, the ease of how he disguised herself made her a tad jealous. "Astra, was it? If you're truly aiming to become champion, then I'll keep an ear out for your name. Try not to disappoint me, dear. That'd be awfully heartbreaking after such a fine speech."
"Uh, I'll try." She gaped at him. "You're seriously leaving? Just like that?"
Despite their earlier animosity, a part of her couldn't help feeling a tinge of disappointment at the thought of him not joining them on their journey. Though she knew that May and Brendan would likely be hesitant to have a stranger join them, the idea of having a Pokémon in the same boat as her but with more experience with humans by her side was undeniably alluring.
The disguised Zoroark chuckled. "Believe it or not, my vacation doesn't usually consist of terrifying and arguing with little girls. I have places to be as well." He tipped his hat to her and winked. "Catch you later, Astra."
Astra watched him depart with a heavy feeling in her chest. Sure, he had slammed her into a wall and scared the daylights out of her, but it was hard to hold onto any lingering resentment after that conversation. He was a cynical sort, but she couldn't deny the effects his words had on her. She certainly hoped they would meet one day, and that she could prove him wrong about humans. He seemed like a person weighed down by the pain of his past despite his lax attitude, she hoped he could move on and find true happiness one day.
With nothing else to do, she returned to the hotel after taking a moment to aimlessly wander around the city to clear her mind. She was eager to hop into the shower and end this stressful day at last. She certainly had a lot to process after everything.
May was laid out on their room's couch with a magazine when she returned. The hot-heated brunette waved at her in greeting. "Hey. Someone's back late. Got lost?"
Astra let out an exasperated huff. "No, I'm good with the map now," she said, shaking her head with a fond smile. Seeing her friend's casual smile warmed her heart and helped alleviate the growing turmoil she felt about how Brendan and May would react if they discovered her secret. "I just bumped into someone on my way here."
"Oh?" May tilted her head. "Was it a friend of yours?"
Astra paused in contemplation. Could she really consider that bitter old Zoroark a friend? She hesitated to say yes, but they did share a unique connection so it felt wrong to call him a stranger. They were two sides of the same coin in a way, both of them were curious souls who had taken on a veil of humanity to experience all that the world had to offer, and each had been changed in their own way.
"Something like that," Astra replied. "He was just someone with an interesting story."
