Nathan stirred the fire with a stick, watching the embers pop. The camp was quiet set in a sheltered bend of Viridian Forest, with moss-covered stones forming a natural semicircle.
Three Pokéballs lay beside him. All closed. None asked to be let out.
Especially the new one.
He reached for it slowly, feeling the weight of the decision.
"Alright," he muttered. "Let's try this."
The ball clicked open. Red light swirled to the ground and the Zorua reappeared.
She didn't attack. Didn't run. Just crouched low and stared at him from across the flames, eyes sharp with suspicion.
"I know," Nathan said softly. "You don't trust me. Yet."
𝐙𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐚 – 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟖
𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥: 𝐒
𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐝: 𝟑/𝟏𝟎𝟎 – 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐲
𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬: 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭
𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞: 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤-𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐝.
Squirtle and Nidoran had warmed up to him in a matter of hours. But Zorua… was different.
He set down a small plate of dry berries near the edge of her comfort zone and leaned back, giving space. She didn't move.
Minutes passed.
Squirtle stirred from his ball and emerged with a stretch. He blinked at Zorua, then at Nathan.
"You can come too," Nathan said gently.
Squirtle waddled over to his side, sat down cross-legged, and stared curiously at their new teammate.
Zorua finally flicked an ear. But still didn't approach.
"Alright," Nathan said, standing. "Then let's work."
The next morning began with a routine Nathan had scribbled into his notepad the night before—his first true training plan.
Morning: Speed and evasion drills with Squirtle and Nidoran. Midday: stamina circuits. Afternoon: ability syncing. Evening: bonding tasks.
He opened the System to help track progress.
𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥: 𝟒
𝐄𝐗𝐏: 𝟐𝟐 / 𝟑𝟎𝟎
𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (𝐔𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟓): 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 – 𝐋𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡, 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫.
Squirtle and Nidoran began with quick footwork, dashing around marked trees, then dodging Nathan's thrown pebbles. It was crude but it worked.
"Good! Reset positions!" Nathan called.
Nidoran skidded to a halt, panting.
Squirtle thumped the ground with a determined nod.
Zorua watched from a branch above, head tilted.
"She's watching," Nathan said to himself. "But not joining."
Around noon, Nathan called for a break. He sat near a quiet stream, rolling berries between his palms.
Zorua descended the tree in silence, circled the fire, and sniffed the area where Nathan had set down her food the night before.
Gone. Squirtle must've eaten it.
He placed a fresh plate in the same spot without a word.
This time, she approached.
She didn't eat while he watched but when Nathan turned to refill his canteen, he heard crunching.
Progress.
That evening, he initiated a light solo exercise—something gentle.
He released her in the open clearing and took a step back.
"I won't order you to fight. But if you want to stretch… do it on your terms."
Zorua eyed him, unblinking.
Then she darted forward, leaping between rocks, ducking under fallen logs, dashing between markers.
No instructions.
Just instinct.
Nathan smiled.
𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐙𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐚 – 𝟏𝟏/𝟏𝟎𝟎 (𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐲 → 𝐂𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬)
𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞: 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝟓𝟎% 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞-𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.
By the third day in the forest, Nathan noticed something strange.
During drills with Squirtle, a second Squirtle sometimes joined in. Perfect mimic. Same moves. Same motions.
Only… there wasn't a second Squirtle.
It was Zorua, cloaked in illusion.
𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝: 𝐈𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐔𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝'𝐬 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐦.
𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥: 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭-𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐲.
Nathan crouched beside her that evening, as she lay curled near the fire for the first time.
"I think I get it now," he murmured. "You don't trust easily… because you've had to hide. Pretend."
Zorua's ear twitched.
"I don't want you to copy anyone. I want you to be you."
Her eyes opened. For once, she didn't look away.
The next day, a wild Beedrill ambushed them mid exercise.
Nidoran staggered from a stray hit, bleeding lightly at the horn. Squirtle locked down the path with a burst of water.
Before Nathan could react, Zorua lunged from the side not cloaked in illusion this time.
Just herself.
She tackled the Beedrill clean out of the air with a blinding Feint Attack.
𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐙𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐚 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝟑𝟖 𝐄𝐗𝐏.
𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐝: 𝟐𝟑/𝟏𝟎𝟎 – 𝐂𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬
Nathan knelt beside her.
"That wasn't just instinct. That was choice."
Zorua looked down for a moment.
Then nudged his arm.
He smiled.
That night, the three Pokémon lay in a semi circle around the fire, no longer arranged by distance or suspicion. Just rest.
Nathan scrolled through his notes, the flickering glow of the System beside him.
𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬:
𝐒𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐥𝐞 – 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟕 | 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥: 𝐀- | 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐝: 𝟕𝟒/𝟏𝟎𝟎 (𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠)
𝐍𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧♂ – 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟔 | 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥: 𝐁 | 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐝: 𝟔𝟑/𝟏𝟎𝟎 (𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲)
𝐙𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐚 – 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟖 | 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥: 𝐒 | 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐝: 𝟐𝟔/𝟏𝟎𝟎 (𝐂𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬)
𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥: 𝟒 – 𝐄𝐗𝐏: 𝟗𝟔 / 𝟑𝟎𝟎
𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐔𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤: 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 | 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐜 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Pewter wasn't far now.
But Nathan didn't rush. He was starting to understand that power without bond was just muscle.
It was trust earned, nurtured that would decide if he could go the distance.
And in the fire's glow, with three teammates by his side, that distance didn't seem so far anymore.