Zoroark looked like a grey fox that walked on two legs. The dark red mane on its head ran down over its back, and there was dark grey hair growing in that mane as well, while near the end of it sat a blue, pearl-like ornament rather like a hair clasp.
The black fur at Zoroark's chest reached up to the shoulders; its claws and ears were red, and so was the fur at the corners of its mouth and around its eyes. Its hands had three fingers, and its legs likewise only three toes.
It was said that a powerful Zoroark had the power to bewilder a great many people at once. It could not only take on the shapes of other things, it could make hundreds of people see visions. By bewildering an opponent, by making an enemy see unreal and terrible visions, it could protect its own territory and its own kind.
Evolved, Zoroark stood about as tall as Vance, only a little shorter.
Meeting its eyes, looking into them, Vance found himself taken hold of before he knew it, and in the blur he saw a vision swim up.
He saw it as the Gyarados; then it shifted again — the Slaking, the Zweilous.
Vance settled his mind a little, drew his thoughts back, and came out of the illusion.
"Oo-oooo—"
"Was that an illusion just now? A very good move, that. Even I was taken in for a moment or two."
He had not been guarding against it deliberately, it was true, and he had still been taken in for a moment. Another person, or another Pokémon, might well have fallen into the illusion and not been able to break out.
Evolved, Zoroark no longer changed only itself; its command of illusion had risen as well.
In a battle that would count for a great deal.
It transformed once more, into the shape of the Gyarados — and not only did the look of the thing match, so did the aura, an aura with an energy pulse fully of Gym-class.
Of course, it had only the aura and not the strength to match, which made it an empty frame, all outside and no inside.
Still, it came off as real enough, and it would do well enough to frighten a Pokémon.
Vance looked at Zoroark, and on the system panel her details were displayed.
> **Name:** Zoroark (female)
> **Type:** Dark
> **Ability:** Illusion
> **Aptitude:** Champion
> **Level:** 32
> **Moves:** Scratch, Leer, Hone Claws, U-turn, Fury Swipes, Fake Tears, Agility, Swords Dance, Swift, Night Daze, Shadow Ball, Brick Break, Imprison, Dark Pulse
With the evolution, Zoroark's data had changed.
Perhaps it was the evolution: the timidity and the fluster that had lain deep in Zoroark's eyes were gone.
Her eyes were narrowed and the corners of her mouth slightly lifted, and confidence came off her.
"Zoroark, how does it feel?"
"Ooo—"
Zoroark shook herself gently. She felt better than she ever had.
"Let's see you change into Suicune and the rest, and how the energies clash."
Vance went on, wanting to see the state of Zoroark's body after evolving and how it differed from before.
Zoroark nodded and changed on the instant; water vapour gathered thickly and she became a Suicune.
Her bearing carried authority without anger, and the crystal on her brow glowed faintly with a soft light.
This time Zoroark felt no discomfort at all. Everything that had been wrong before was gone.
"Entei form now. Let me see how badly the energies clash."
Vance went on, having her change into the Entei form so he could look at the conflict between water and fire and see how it differed from before the evolution.
"Ooagh!"
A wave of heat came rolling over, and an Entei stood before him.
"Sssss—"
The moment she appeared Zoroark showed her discomfort, but happily she was able to adjust very quickly, and the discomfort was far less than it had been.
There was no more unbearable pain, and she could move about freely.
"Roar—"
The Entei loosed a furious roar, a grave sound that shook the hills and the woods.
Many Pokémon far off felt a pressure come at them that reached into the soul, and the timid among them lay flat on the ground and dared not move.
"Boom—"
A golden flame surged up into the sky, giving off a scorching heat.
"Roar, roar—"
When the flames had passed there came another shrill roar, like thunder rolling out in every direction.
In front of Vance stood a Raikou, dazzling gold, carrying the thunder in its body, arcs of electricity breaking out over it and snapping and flashing.
It gathered into a ball, and another stroke of thunder appeared in the sky with a loud crack.
The thunder came down on the strength of it and cut a clearing out of the ground, black smoke drifting up from it.
"That's Elite-class destructive power already. I'd put it at the level of 45 or 46."
One look was enough for Vance to work out roughly what Zoroark could do in a fight.
In her Legendary states Zoroark was in herself no more than a level-32 Pokémon of Advanced strength, and yet she could produce moves with as much force as Elite-class.
Then again, thinking of her Champion aptitude and of the Legendary power she carried within her, a showing like that was only to be expected.
The Gyarados, at that level, had been able to touch Elite-class strength itself when it put everything into it.
With high aptitude and proper raising, fighting above your tier was not difficult.
"Blaziken—"
"Raah, raah—"
The Gyarados and the other old hands exchanged a glance, appreciation in their eyes. This Zoroark's future was no worse than theirs.
More than that — she had more room to grow than they had.
Even the Zweilous, which had always been confident in its own gifts, had a taste at that moment of being overtaken.
"Roar, roar—"
The Gyarados came up and put a question to Vance.
"You're none of you behind, but for the moment Zoroark's aptitude is still ahead of yours. You'll have to work at it, Gyarados. Zoroark has command of three different Legendary powers, mind."
Vance said it cheerfully.
"Roar, roar—"
The Gyarados nodded, then turned to Zoroark and congratulated her on evolving. The team had one more fine member in it.
"Roar, roar—"
The Aerodactyl, the Blaziken and the rest offered their own good wishes, and for a while the mood in the team was warm and thoroughly lively.
A little later, on the eastern side of the Viridian Forest, a violent noise broke out.
"Whoooosh—"
A wave rose to the sky and came crashing forward, and standing above the wave was a blue Pokémon — Zoroark in her Suicune form.
One sudden slam scattered the Beedrill blocking her path and drove them apart.
In the confusion several powerful Beedrill flew out, lifted the twin lances glinting coldly on their arms and came at Zoroark.
Loud as Zoroark's entrance had been, her hard strength was what it was, and one blow could not kill off this whole Beedrill colony.
That too came down to strength: she could not cow the Beedrill coming at her, every one of them Elite-class, several of them at the level of 48 or 49.
More than ten levels of energy above Zoroark.
As the Beedrill charged in, Zoroark changed again. A Raikou appeared, dazzling gold, carrying ten thousand bolts of lightning, and went to meet them.
"Boom, boom, boom—"
There was a roll of thunder, and many of the Beedrill charging at the front went down abruptly with their bodies charred black.
"Roar, roar—"
A wave of heat swept in, and a fiery red Pokémon appeared on the ground, trailing flames behind it as it ran and burning everything along its path.
The Beedrill it met had no way at all of holding it off, and were beaten one after another by this endlessly changing Zoroark.
Some twenty of them, far stronger than Zoroark, and every one of them was broken there.
Vance stood watching from a distance and nodded from time to time.
This fight of Zoroark's was something she had asked for herself, on learning that the energy clash had dropped to the point where it no longer affected her body.
At that Zoroark could not sit still. She was determined to get the feel of this power.
Which was how the present showing had come about.
Vance had agreed readily enough, and so Zoroark, fighting for the first time with all three Legendary forms, had put herself on display in this place.
Her opponents were an Elite-class colony of Beedrill.
Now, after the hard fighting, the result was in: Zoroark had won.
And had shown something of what she could do.