The Illusionists' Fight

Guys! If you read Trainers of Legends and don't want spoilers, don't read this! Involves spoilers for the end of Joanna's/BlueJay's timeline!

You have been warned.


The Illusionist's Fight
I sit at the edge of the clearing, flicking an ear back and forth. Listening to the sounds of the forest, the rest of the pack searching for the stolen child. Dark things were abroad this night… and it isn’t just me. I would laugh – because what was darker than a zoroark, cloaked in illusion? – but my way tonight was kept in silence and secrecy. As always.
“Blue, quite pacing! It’ll happen when it will; there’s nothing you can do about it!” Brith snaps.
I glance up. Captain Blue is pacing restlessly, the same path she’d been pacing since we stopped in this clearing. Since the eclipse, earlier in the day. Brith can’t do anything to calm her down, and it isn’t for lack of trying.
“Sorry – it’s just there’s an impending sense of déjà vu, you know?”
“No, I don’t think I do know.”
“Well aren’t you a lucky one?” Captain Blue sighs and leans against a tree, clenching and unclenching a fist as if she was going to punch it. “Dammit, I wish I wasn’t here. I’d honestly rather be anywhere else... but mostly on my boat.”
“Talk over what you saw with me again?” Brith sighs, jumping up to sit above Captain Blue, on a branch.
Captain Blue closes her eyes, remembering something she’s told Brith many times before. “The volcano top, it’s dark – looks like night, a bit past sunset. There’s that old woman – Fothya – with what looks like a kid in her arms, facing down some... beast. It’s not a pokémon or anything I recognise, it’s constantly changing... and quite honestly, gives me the chills. There’s some weird – thing – in the trees just beyond them, watching.”
“What kind of thing?”
“I don’t know, it’s weird and armoured and made of shadow!”
“So what do you think you can do?”
 “I... I don’t know, Brith. But if there’s something – anything I can do, to save Joanna and her child, I’ll do it.”
“Of course you will,” Brith sighs. “Just – try not to go too overboard?”
Captain Blue snorts and starts to make her way up through the forest, to the volcano. Brith sighs and follows her, dropping down onto the path. I stand and stretch, padding after them, half invisible in the twilight. They know I’m here, of course – not much gets past Brith – but it’s still best to keep quiet.
“Sorry. It’s kinda – I don’t know what’s supposed to be happening, and this has been preying on me for the past five years.”
“It’s ok, Blue. It’ll be fine.”
Captain Blue snorts again. “Yeah, like I can believe that. Woah!” She comes to a halt as someone steps onto the path before her. “Alex?”
I sniff and snarl quietly to myself. It’s not Alex, doesn’t have his smell. Not a psychic illusion either, which only leaves it to be one thing… I shouldn’t interfere here. I can’t. Brith would have a better chance. Assuming she can sense it.
“Alex, I need to get to the volcano top. Why aren’t you down with Joanna?” Captain Blue starts walking again, meaning to just slip past him.
Not-Alex flings a hand out, stopping Captain Blue. Pushing her back.
“What the – Alex?” Jay peers at him, trying to see more.
Brith doesn’t appear to know. I snarl. Damn the rules. There’s a child at stake, and Captain Blue is needed elsewhere!
“Blue, that isn’t–” Brith cuts off as I cannon past her, slamming into Not-Alex’s chest.
So maybe she had noticed that it wasn’t Alex. Too late now.
He staggers back and picks me up, examining the small zorua form I hold tight. I glare at him, daring him to see me for who I am.
“Soise!” Captain Blue yells, but she doesn’t start forward.
He’s strong. Stronger than I’d thought. Though I struggle, it’s almost as if he has me trapped in this illusion form. And then he releases me, throwing me into a tree. I yelp, the sound involuntary as my head cracks against it. Or maybe that’s a branch. Either way, my vision blurs as I loll against the tree, and the zorua illusion I have held strong for so many years flickers.
I hear Brith step forward and punch, but – he’s either fast, or strong. Possibly both. Another crack. When I blink blurry from my eyes, Brith is trapped to a tree, her spikes holding her prisoner. And they must be in deep, because she can’t struggle free, and I can see her trying furiously.
Captain Blue is circling slowly, trying to get around the zoroark. Because he’s also dropped the illusion around himself, showing a ragged black mane streaked with silver, the red tips almost rust.
And I know who he is.
I roar at him, pushing myself to my feet and leaping forward, running to jump into his chest. “Go! Blue, get to the volcano rim!” I yell at her, pushing Kayithos to the ground only because of my momentum and his surprise.
“Since when–?” She pauses, staring at us.
“Go, dammit!” I yell at her again, snapping at his throat.
Captain Blue runs on and Kayithos pushes me off. I drag him with me and we roll across the ground. With a bark of triumph, Brith wrenches herself free.
“I got this,” I pant at her.
She nods and darts after Captain Blue.
“Which one are you?” He hisses. “Korresan. You’ll be outlawed for this.”
I don’t reply, instead raking my back claws across his legs. He’s taller than me, but that just means I can reach more places that’ll hurt, since we’re still on the ground.
He pushes me off, kicking me into another tree. I slam my head against it once more, and the scenery dissolves.
Not just because I’d hit my head. But because he is a zoroark, and it’s what we do. Ignore it. Have to ignore it. Real – we were in the forest at Lavaridge, on the volcano top. Not real – we were jumping across wispy clouds, balancing on the azure sky.
He flickers in and out of view, darting around. I roar and the scenery changes, becoming darker. I spot him, just as his illusion breaks – and jump for him. I miss, but catch his mane. We go tumbling through the grass and dead leaves and ash, illusionary scenery disappearing.
Holding a sandslash – not real – an ekans – not real – an ursaring slips from my grasp, forcing my claws apart. Not real.
I flick out of his way, illusioning him a scared zorua to chase after. Doesn’t work – he charges for me, grabbing in a beartic-hug kind of way.
“Erris-hayn. You’re Erris-hayn, aren’t you?”
I don’t bother to reply, flipping backwards to catch a branch, flipping myself into a tree.
And then we are adrift in the sea, bobbing helplessly as stormy waves slam around us, choking full of water – but I’m not. This is my illusion, not his. He struggles, not knowing how to cope with water – he is a land zoroark, through and through. Wind whips through the waves, sending spray flicking into his face.
I climb carefully through the trees around him, watching him struggle. “The least you could have done was learn how to swim, Kayithos,” I snarl, leaping to slam into his back.
He drops beneath the waves, flailing uselessly.
And then again we are falling through the sky, wind whipping our manes back – his hits me in the face, making it hard to see. Not real.
We break apart and I tumble across the ground as the illusions disappear.
Kayithos pulls himself to his feet. “You… you have learnt well, Erris-hayn,” he is panting. “Such a pity for the tribe to lose you.”
I bark a laugh. “You think you’re any better off? Foyir will never let you back, never give you your post now!”
“You think I care for Elder Foyir now? I have so much more here… the potion master, she dreams big.”
“She dreams wrong,” I spat back. “You know what she attempts this night?”
Blades flew at my head. I dart out of the way and they disappear. Not real. I retaliate with a barrage of sharp edged leaves; he laughs and makes no attempt to shield against them. Real. They hit his face, his chest. Not as sharp edged as I’d made them look, but they make a good distraction while I whip around and jump, kicking him to the ground once more.
“She attempts her calling,” he chokes out. “My calling.”
“What, you mean to kill an innocent?” I laugh, exploding aipoms around him, chattering and gesticulating in silence.
“I mean to become the true NightChild.” A horde of lucario punch the aipom into the trees; they blink out, one by one.
Brith wouldn’t be too happy with that. I laugh, flipping up into a tree.
“You are no more a NightChild than I am ruler of the forest, Kayithos. The NightChild is born this night, and it wasn’t you.”
He jumps after me and I leap higher, making the branches vanish in the shifting night as I go so that he finds it harder to follow me.
“That NightChild is false! I am the true NightChild, tonight I will ascend!”
“Into idiocy, maybe,” I retort, watching him fumble through the branches. “Though I suppose that would be more of a descent. Though not very far, for you. Assuming you can still fall further into it.” I leap past him, kicking his head into a tree as I drop past.
He catches my foot and stops my fall short, slamming me through branches and into a tree trunk. I groan, trying to kick my foot free from him.
He just catches my other foot and holds me there, laughing. “So, Erris-hayn, what happens now? Shall I drag you back to the forest, so you can be banished?”
I struggle and then fall limp. And become a finneon. His bigger illusions were better. He concentrated on making your surroundings so real that you couldn’t tell they weren’t, that you were falling through the sky even though you were standing still. But he was rubbish with individual forms. And I… I had practice with them for so many years. I could make people believe I was where I wasn’t. I could fool the air into letting me fly, the sea into letting me breath. And I could damn well fool this Kihirae as well.
His paws slip, opening and letting my feet go. I become an ambipom, catching tree branches to slow my descent. Then I land on the ground and look up as he jumps after me, landing less lightly.
“So. Where were we?” he asks, raising his paws. “I don’t believe you had finished falling.”
And we are back in the tree tops and I am falling, slamming into branches and catching leaves. Not real. Not real. Not… real.
I slam into the ground, feeling as though I had fallen all that way again.
Kayithos laughs, stepping forward. “Not so good there, are you?”
“Damn you… Kayithos.” I push myself to my feet, stepping backwards. “Still… the captain can stop your pitiful human.”
“But you will not be able to stop me,” he hisses, slamming me into a tree, baring his teeth. “And then I will deal with your… captain.”
“You’ll have to deal with me, first,” someone else snarls, and he is slammed to the side, cracking his head off a tree.
I fall to the ground now that he is no longer holding me up, but just as quickly stand up again.
“Are you ok?” Brith eyes me up, frowning. “You have some explaining to do.”
“Yeah, maybe after–”
Kayithos starts laughing. “You think that will deal with me? You think you, with your type advantage can finish me?”
The trees disappear. So does the night. Brith stiffens, paws clenching into fists as she narrows her eyes.
“It’s not real,” I whisper.
Can’t be. Though I can’t see anything wrong with it. Snow. Snow blurs out everything. Not somewhere I know, though Brith tenses even more, beginning to audibly growl.
“It will take more than that… Reho.”
What? Was I not the only one hiding behind a new name? I glance at Brith, worried.
“Not real,” she mutters. “It’s not real.” She takes a step forward.
Fire coats the horizon nearest us, and a troop of magmar, magmortar appear. Brith glances at it, her fur rippling.
I put two and two together, and step towards Kayithos.
A riolu runs from the trees, bounding in the snow. We can tell… she’s laughing, though the illusion is silent. Having fun.
Brith stiffens, watching the riolu. I lose sight of Kayithos and snarl, trying to break the illusion – a dragonite soars across the sky, an aerodactyl lands in the snow. Captain Blue appears, trench coat flapping in the wind with Vulp at her feet, trudging through the snow. Yen leaps and plays around them.
Then they disappear as the magmortar charge. The riolu leaps to run away, back to – somewhere. I shield myself against snow that shouldn’t be there. We’re in Lavaridge. Land of fire and ash – not snow!
I roar, stamping my foot.
“Temper, Erris-hayn.” Kayithos laughs, kicking me to the ground.
Fire plumes through the air, but I forget about the illusion, forget about Brith – forget about everything but Kayithos.
Fire – it’s ash – burns through snow – also ash – and I charge across the ground – not snow. Kayithos laughs, but that’s because he’s watching the me that’s charging through the illusion to where he last was. He misses the me that was hiding as a frosslass in the snow, moving carefully behind him.
And the illusion disappears as I jump to kick him in the head, catching onto a branch to make sure I reach. He hits the ground and Brith blinks, shaking her head.
“It wasn’t real,” I say to her.
“It was real enough,” she replies.
Kayithos pushes himself up, tries to throw up another illusion, an illusion of cliff edges and sharp rocks to land on. I push it away easily – he’s old and tired. I am young and strong and – Korresan. He has nothing on me. We stay in the forest of ash and Brith leaps to attack him. He defends – badly. She punches again and again, spinning to kick him to the ground.
“Don’t!” I yell, leaping to stop what would probably be a killing blow.
“Why, Soise? Tell me – why should I not?” Her fist clenches, spike trembling.
She’s panting, furious. The worst I’ve ever seen her.
“Because it isn’t our way,” I reply.
Kayithos laughs weakly. “You break the most important – the only rule we have – and still worry about the forest way?”
“Shut up!” I say, kicking a paw into his chin.
He coughs, spitting blood. I may have knocked teeth loose.
 “So what happens with him?” Brith is snarling, furiously.
Kayithos backs away, stands up. “I run.”
“No you don’t!” I yell, as he turns and leaps for a gap in the trees.
And slams into a tree that he can’t see but is there. I laugh, letting my last illusion die.
“Never think you can outwit me, Kayithos. I am Ko’hayn of White Forest, and you… you are nothing to them.” I step over beside him and crouch down, grinning slightly.
“Not… alone,” he coughs. “You… you are too.”
I cover my hesitance about that with a snarl. “You think they will make me follow you?”
“What is he talking about?” Brith asks, pulling him to his feet. “And what are we doing with him?”
“Do what you want,” I reply. “Just don’t kill him.”
Brith grins and slams him into a tree, punching with one fist furiously.
I leap away, into the trees. We would need to take him back to White Forest, and I wasn’t watching him the whole trip. He’d probably have a pokéball in Fothya’s place… and I doubted she’d be needing it again.