Well... looks at a calendar and date ...shit

Hey, it's been a while. Illusion had slowly fallen to the bottom of my queue list but no longer! It's been over a year since the last chapter but I don't want to call it quits. I swear I will finish this story. I know it's not an incredibly long chapter but I wanted to post something for all of those who have been waiting. Chapters 1-4 have all gotten over 1000 views and it means so much to me. Thank you all so much for the support and watching. If you enjoy the story, please favorite and watch! I've got a few more stories planned this month and probably some art sprinkling in between.

The art for this chapter was once again done by the incredible  ArcherMouse who also you should show support to cause he's amazing.

Chapter list:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four

The story will be below in the description, thank you so much for reading!

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“Jun?…”

The zoroark froze before whipping around to see Veronica staring at him in awe. Jun had come up to the scenic overlook to let his disguise down and recharge his illusion but now, he was discovered. His eyes widened in fear as his claws shivered in fright. What the hell was he supposed to do?

“Uuuuuuh, surprise?”

The surprised look on Veronica’s face widened even more causing Jun to wince. Shit. Definitely not the best way to respond. She could freak out and cause a huge commotion, she could try to fight him which he was not at all prepared for, he couldn’t even use any moves for Arceus’s sake! Even worse, she could try to catch him. What would happen if he was hot by one. Would he get captured? How would he get out? He didn’t wanna be someone’s Pokémon partner, wha-

“Jun? Jun!”

Veronica’s yelled, causing the zoroark to jump out of his funk, turning his attention back to his…friend? Travel companion? Something like that.

“Explain! Why are you a zoroark? Why can you talk like a human? Why are you hiding, what are you hiding, what’s with the book and the legendaries and the fight and the edge and-!” Veronica yelled.

“I think you need to calm down a little Veronica.”

“CALM DOWN?! NO! You will explain all of this, now!” Veronica said as she angrily sat down on one of the benches that sat on the overlook. She crossed her arms and legs as she let out a huff, the air clinging together in the condensation. “And I won’t take no as an answer Jun.”

Jun let out a long sigh as he walked over and leaned against the railing in front of the bench. There was no real use in hiding anything now, all that he could hope for is not a Pokeball to the face or losing a possible ally. “Well, it was around a month ago when I came up with an idea…”

————————————————————

Veronica sat and listened as Jun told his story, of how he started by trying to get zoroark DNA and got a special type of goo instead that had changed him into a zoroark. At first, she was a little hesitant to believe his story until he showed the video. Veronica winced at Jun’s desperate pleas echoed out of the phone as the transformation was affecting his body. “Shit…”

“Shit indeed.” The zoroark said before beginning to tell Veronica about J, the person who sent the package, and the Constellations. The handwritten journal was filled with notes on legendary and mythical Pokémon sitting in his lap, flipping through pages to show notes. “With one city cleared, it leaves Castelia and Nimbasa cities to look at and to try to find this J”

Veronica hummed as her brow furrowed, “Hence why you want the cruise to Castelia, but why didn’t you fly? Why did we take a cruise?” Jun rubbed the back of his head and let out a dry chuckle.

“Oh, I know…You get a loan from your overprotective sis working for Interpol and well, you look like this” Jun said, motioning to his whole zoroark body with a gesture. “I had wanted to try and solve whatever and the hell happened to me, before the whole tell friends and family but, here we are.”

The zoroark rubbed his face before letting out a long sigh. “So,” the zoroark grumbled through his hands before letting them fall. “What do you think?”

Veronica paused before carefully putting her hand down onto Jun’s shoulder, the physical contact causing Jun to stiffen. “I feel like I'm in for a hell of an adventure. I’m already invested so why the hell not?”

Jun turned to face Veronica, “Wait, you still wanna join?” the zoroark said, his head slightly cocking in confusion. “Even after all of this? The cruise, the close encounter with the force of nature legendaries, the fact that I somehow managed to beat you in a fight.”

Veronica paused for a moment before her fist softly impacted her thigh, “So THAT'S how you beat me, Mr. Mad Scientist. Using your illusion skills to fool such an innocent girl.”

“Excuse me, it was the Mysterious Scientist and I sure as hell didn’t want to be in that ring with you.”

Veronica let out a laugh, causing Jun to loosen up, his shoulders slowly relaxing as he looked past the overview to the stars. The zoroark sighed, his breath catching in the chilling air of the late-night winds. As the laugh slowly died down, the two sat in silence, letting the surroundings breathe and talk before jun broke the silence. “There is probably going to be a bunch of weird shit that happens…”

“...Well then, I’ll get a hell of a story.”

The two sat there on the bench, as the silence once again filled the moment as the tension was lifted from the air.

---

“I can’t believe we’re going to have to walk to Castilia”

“Well, it looks like we have to unless you want to wait a week for them to repair the docks in Castelia.

Veronica huffed as she synched up her bag onto her shoulder. A small frown sat on her face as she turned to Jun, having turned into a human illusion. Veronica was very interested in the illusion abilities when he showed off him putting on his human disguise before walking back to their room. However, she was less than thrilled that being Jun was the only thing he could become. She also got upset that Jun hadn’t been able to do any pokemon moves at all.

The two grabbed a few supplies before they began their trek out onto the route out towards Accumula town. While some ideas were tossed around like Jun masquerading as her pokemon partner, Jun refused very quickly, not wanting to get his ass handed to him by any pokemon in a battle. “So, there are two cities and a town on our way before Castelia, what’s your big plan of getting there?” Veronica said as she walked alongside Jun.

“Well, back in Nuvema town, I saw a poster for a bus from Accumula town all the way to Castellia, but…”

Veronica groaned “But?...”

“I wanted to stop in Nacrene City” Jun explained as he pulled out a small map from the side pocket of his bag, showing it off to Veronica.

“I swear if you want to stop there just because of the museum to geek out over the fossil restoration place, I swear to Arceus-” Veronica said before Jun raised his hand and swatted at her dismissively.

“Relax, no, I wanted to look in probably the most likely area this ‘J’ could be,” Jun said before pointing at a spot between the two cities. “Pinwheel Forest.”

“What makes you say that?” Veronica questioned as she quickly looked over at the map before leaning back, making sure no wild pokemon were up ahead to cause any trouble. They mainly were staying in the trees and taller grass around the route, however, Veronica knew to be wary.

“Well, I don’t think they would be able to work well in the huge city and the other route area is basically a large sand waste. If I were to somehow work best with illusions and really dangerous stuff, I wouldn’t want to work around sand or so many people.” Jun said with a grin.

Veronica hummed at the hidden zoroark’s theory, seeing where he was getting at. “But then again, I haven’t heard of anything zoroark related there.” She questioned as they continued.

“Well of course you wouldn’t hear anything. It could be a possible secret lab or like a camp in the middle of a large forest, with access to creatures that can disguise themselves to be any pokemon. If you heard anything about zoroarks there, it would kind of give away that there is a whole secret thing going on.” Jun said before looking up from his map. Off in the distance, Jun could see some small houses on top of hills and other buildings. A large sign hung overhead welcoming people to Accumula town. The town only had a few medium-sized buildings along the hillside and was very much a quick stop though rather than a big city. “Looks like we made it.”

As the two got closer, they began to notice a small commotion in the streets. A small parade or march was gathered around the town square, holding blue banners and were wrapping up a speech. The crowd seemed on edge, due to their words and not happy with the group in front of them. As Jun and Veronica got closer they were able to hear the final words. “...The only way to peace and true equality is to let go of your pokemon! See them not as tools but as their beings! Donations and our release program will be over on the edge of town and will be there for the night. We here at Team Plasma, thank you for your time.” The crowds murmured as the group gathered under its banners and marched off, leaving a bitter audience who did not follow and dispersed back around town.

“Oh great, not those idiots again,” Veronica muttered angrily, causing Jun to turn his head in confusion.

“What do you mean idiots, that Team Plasma? What, are they like a pokemon rights group, or are they sort of like a gang like Team Rocket?” Jun said in confusion as they began to walk into the town, past some of the people, and over to the pokemon center. As the two entered the building, they walked over to one of the many small travel kiosks.

“They’re like Team Rocket though they try to act like a ‘charity’” Veronica said, rolling their eyes as they looked through the small pamphlet offering bus fares and times. “They’ve had two big crackdowns over the past few years. Rumor has it that they’re now having a schism or civil war or something like that within the gang but I don’t trust any of them.”

“Well, I’ve already had enough run-ins with Team Rocket to know not to mess with them, sometimes I feel like they have it out for me,” Jun grumbled, taking a look at a few supplies underneath the glass counter. Crouching down, they leaned in closer to look at the items. “Can I get an escape rope and a repel?” The attendant nodded as they fetched the items from underneath the counter.

“Expecting trouble?” Veronica said, walking over to the counter, standing beside the hidden zoroark.

“No, but it’s always good to have backup plans, you never know what’s gonna happen,” Jun said as he shelled over the money to the attendant.

“And if we can also get a hyper potion and 2 tickets to Nacrene City, please,” Veronica said, pulling out her wallet.

“Expecting trouble?~” Jun teased as two tickets and a pink potion were set in front of them. He picked up the potion, swirling its contents before Veronica snatched it out of his hands. With a frown, he picked up one of the tickets for a bus to Nacrene City.

“Better to be safe than sorry,” Veronica said, grinning as she pocketed the items. “Before we leave, I got to make a quick stopover at the P.C. system.” Veronica’s smile slowly fell to one of melancholy.

“Why, what’s up?” Jun said, slightly tilting his head, noticing the tone shift from Veronica.

“I need to pick up an old friend”

---

“Come on out, Dewott!”

A Pokeball flew through the air as a beam of energy shot out from its center. The beam of light shot out as it crackled through the air like electricity before hitting the ground. Out of the red energy slowly began to emerge a small figure. As the red and white energy dissipated, a blue bipedal otter, only standing around 2 feet all emerged. It wore an unhappy across its face as it stood in front of Jun and Veronica. The Pokeball, now no longer filled, fell back down into Veronica’s hand.

“Hey Dewott, it’s been a while,” Veronica said with a dry laugh, averting her eyes from the small pokemon.

<“A while? A WHILE?! It has been FOUR months since I was last outside that ball! What the hell have you been doing? What happened to that whole adventure, the whole best of buddies? And who is this prick?”> The dewott said angrily, pointing at Jun.

Jun frowned, opening his mouth to respond before Veronica jumped in, guessing some of the emotions her partner felt. “Dewwy, this is Jun, we’re going on an adventure.”

<“Oh boy, a new adventure, cause the gym league was just too hard and we were stuck in that dumb port town cause you didn’t wanna go home.”> Dewott said, rolling their eyes and turning around away from Veronica.

“My, he sure is a mouthy one” Jun muttered as he looked down at his phone, “We’ve only got around 30 minutes till that bus takes off.”

“Yea yea, I know…” Veronica said with a sad tone, her voice drifting off as she turned back towards the dewott. Kneeling, she leaned forward and held out an Oran Berry. “Listen, I know our last journey…Didn’t go exactly to plan. I know that and you know that. Can I ask for one more try? One more adventure?”
The dewott paused, its head did not turn to them as it looked out into the woods around town. Clouds passed by at a slow crawl and the sounds of light pokemon cries could be heard in the distance. The Dewott sighed, its shoulders relaxing as it turned around and grabbed the berry in her hand, holding up one finger. <” Just one more time…”>

Veronica gave a warm smile as she fell back onto her but, giving a heavy sigh of relief, “Guess that means we’re good!”

<“However, I don’t trust that ‘Jun’ creep at all, he smells…Off”> The dewott said, pointing towards Jun, not getting close to him. The dewott’s hand fell to one of the shells on its waist absentmindedly.

<“Don’t call me a creep, asshole”> Jun growled out, surprising both Veronica and Dewott. Dewott pulled the shells out from around his waist, beams of light shining out of the shells like long blades as they moved in to attack before being stopped by Veronica, holding onto them barely.

“Easy, easy! Chill, chill!” Veronica yelled as she held the dewott back from Jun who looked tired of the whole situation. “He’s a Friend Dewott, he’s got a complex story and needs our help.”

<“And how does that explain how he can freaking understand me?”> The dewott said, holding onto his shells as they fell to his sides slightly, his stance less ready to strike, through able to attack at a moment’s notice.

<“Cause I’m a Zoroark and watch your mouth,”> Jun responded before rolling his arm and turning towards the bus station. “Come on, I wanna make sure we make it to the bus on time.”

The Dewott turned to Veronica for her reaction and she nodded in agreement. Sighing, the dewott sheathed his shells onto his hips and shook his head. The two slowly began to catch up to Jun who had already begun walking towards the station. <“You always attract the weird ones…”>

“Hey, I heard that!”

---

The bus ride over to Nacrene City wasn’t too bad. The bus was only half-filled and many stayed on the bus while Jun, Veronica, and Dewott got off. Jun rolled his eyes at another snide comment Dewott had made about sitting on Veronica’s lap instead of getting his seat. “Well, next up is a bunch of walking, do you wanna go in your ball Dewott?”

<“As long as I come out in less than four months, I’ll be fine. My butts so sore, it better be for something good”> Dewott mumbled as it walked beside Veronica, putting itself between Jun and his trainer.
“He says ok,” Jun said as Veronica pointed her Pokeball at Dewott, sending out a beam of energy and sucking the dewott inside. “Man, he’s got a bit of a mouth…”

“Yea, he’s probably still mad over some stuff,” Veronica said with a small frown as the two slowly began to walk down the road. “We can definitely walk a bit, we’re already ready to go.”

“Mhmm,” Jun said as the two began to walk down the road. As the two walked down the route, The two walked in silence as they made their way down the puddle-filled road. As the two walked, Jun looked around the route before sighing. “I heard some of the stuff he said…” Jun said as he sighed.

“Yea…” Veronica sadly responded as the two continued. “It was after losing the gym in Virbank, that I lost hope. We couldn’t beat her, no matter how hard we tried…So I gave up. I didn’t want to go home and admit I couldn’t do it…So I put Dewwy into the box and tried to find odd jobs around Virbank. I ended up living in the black market til I found you.” The two continued, breaking apart for a moment to walk around a rather large puddle before coming back side to side. “Probably will be my last adventure, I feel…Homesick”

“It’s hard to admit you aren’t good enough or you bit off more than you can chew. Pride is something that can affect all of us. Sometimes we need some humility to shack us to get our bearings back in order.” Jun said, rolling his wrist before putting it back to holding the bag on his back.

“Yeah…Sometimes we do…” Veronica said as the silence once again took hold of the air around them.

“So…How big is this forest?” Jun said, changing the subject and letting his curiosity go. Looking around, he saw a few wild pokemon around the distant trees but they seemed to be not paying any meaningful attention to them. “Anything to watch out for?”

“Well, other than the rare scollipede, there isn’t a whole lot to worry about, I’m sure if there is a camp or lab we can find it. Most people don’t go off the trails anyway.” Veronica said as they slowly got closer to the large wall of trees. “Looks like we’re here, the Pinwheel Forest.”

“Sweet, let’s start!” Jun said as the two walked into the forest. A large road snaked its way through the forest but the surrounding areas seemed rather untouched. A few trails went deeper into the forest but nothing as solid as the road that cuts through the heart of the forest. The two slowly began to go down trails, snaking between old pokemon paths and decaying trees. The filtered sunlight gave the forest a cool and calm temperature with spotty beams of light shining between leaves. As the two slowly worked through the forest, they walked deeper and deeper into the Pinwheel Forest. Hours began to slowly pass as the two looked over nook and cranny. After wading through a pond and searching for hours, the two hadn’t found anything that had stood out yet.

“Well, I’m starting to get tired Jun, wanna have a break?” Veronica said as the two of them walked into a small clearing, Veronica made her way over to a small moss-covered rock and sat down on top of it, breaking out a bottle of water. “Want one?”

“Sure, toss me one,” Jun said as he reached out and cracked open the bottle. Shaking off his backpack, he looked around before finding a good spot to sit, a fallen-over tree. As Jun hopped up onto the fallen trunk and took a few sips, he felt that something was…off. There wasn’t any chirping of birds or the buzzing of the small bugs that lived in the forest. It was barely noticeable but it was there. Then, the hair on the back of Jun’s neck stood up on its ends, his eyes widening and pupils dilating. Something big was here, something they needed to run from, NOW.

“We need to go, NO-” Jun yelled as he slowly lurched forward before a blur tackled him from behind, knocking jun forward. Veronica gasped in surprise as she quickly moved out of the way and prepared to attack. Jun’s head began to wobble as his form did, cracking like glass as his illusion began to fade, his true zoroark form revealed. As the zoroark looked up from the ground to see what had hit him, he froze as he looked at the piercing red eyes staring at him. It was a green deer, Its form was rather elegant as it towered gracefully over him. The eyes, however, glowed a deep red and bore into his soul, the pokemon’s face barred in a growl. Its breathing was heavy with anger as its hind hoofs dug into the soft soil below. “It’s Virision…” Veronica whispered in a mix of awe and fear.

As Jun looked up at those eyes, it was the same eyes that Tornadus and Thundurus had when he saw them on the cruise. Worry shot through his mind as Virision lowered its head at him and growled, right above him.

Jun nervously laughed, “Heheheh…Good legendary?”