Fun with Foxes

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It was a cool night; the crisp, refreshing air was just what Zack needed right now. Earlier that day he had sneaked into Grassveil's Guild to take a peek at their outlaw board. Though he hadn't stolen a mission from the board, he had made a mental note of one of them; a Zorua that was said to reside in Shadowhue Forest. This Zorua was a thief like him, however there was one key difference: she used her abilities to steal from ordinary, helpless folk. In Zack's opinion, it was a rather large waste of such amazing skills. After all, Zorua and Zoroark were famed for their illusion ability. They made the perfect thieves, so why waste such natural talent?

What he did glean from this was that he needed to be just as tricky if he were going to succeed tonight.

The pokemon had been a lonely seedot, probably a friend of the ludicolo's. Mirage remembered some rumor of Seedot and Lotads having some sort of relation ship, but she was unsure about whether it was rivalry or just a friendship in general. The Zorua blinked as she thought, as she thought, she was enveloped in a dark red mist as she began to change her appearance. She had no particular pokemon in mind, but she had appeared to be a Mightyena of some sorts with an odd lighter than usual color that was a side affect from the Zorua not fully able to control her ability. The Zorua turned her head towards the sentret, "What am i?" she asked, since she was unsure of just what she was herself as she was unable to see herself.

Zack watched with concealed awe as the Illusion ability took effect. Even though he knew it was just an illusion, it still fooled him; as was the beauty of the ability.
"You're a Mightyena," he replied after a short pause, hopping down from the tree he had selected for his vantage point, "Though your fur appears to be a little lighter than the average, just so you know," he smiled. Though always astounded by the unique and versatile ability, it appeared that it did have it's flaws.

Mirage concentrated a bit more, and her color was slightly darker now, but still lighter than normal. She hoped that the other pokemon would just assume that it was just a natural variation.
"Alright, now, I suppose we should get friendly with it first before messing with it. Maybe make it think we're friends of its and just before it realizes we're not actually what we are we attack and send a message. Unless you have a better plan?" Mirage appeared normal to herself, but her illusion appeared as a mightyena laying down next to the sentret. Its jaws opened and closed as it spoke, looking a bit intimidating to any that didn't know that this was just an illusion.

"Nah, we can go with your plan for now," he replied with a flick of his ringed tail and a twitch of his dark furred ears. He paused for a moment to take a quick look at the area from his new position on the ground, before proceeding forward. Zack headed straight towards the water, as if having come here just for the cool, fresh, running water. In the spirit of such an act, upon reaching the stream bank he bent down and lapped at the water before cupping his small paws into the water and throwing some over his face. Glancing over to the disguised Zorua, he shook his fur to rid it of most of the water.

Mirage followed rather lazily, to make it seem as if the mightyena illusion didn't care that a juicy meal that was a sentret was just a few footsteps away from it. The seedot's gaze shot towards the two as soon as they exited the bush. Lucky for them, the seedot wasn't very bright and approached them with a question, "Um hi...do you know of a Zorua named Mirage that lives around here? I'm suppose to look for her tonight for someone..."
Mirage remained silent, giving a yawn. She didn't know if this seedot would know her voice, she realized. It must have not realized that Zorua could change their appearance with a flick of the tail as well, since it should have been suspicious if it did know.

The Sentret paused from ridding the moisture from his fur at the Seedot's voice. Reaching a paw up to one of his ears, he tapped it as if to get water out of that too.
"I can't say i've ever even seen a Zorua from afar before, let alone been close enough to ask their name," he replied, the lie rolling easily off his tongue as if he'd done it a thousand times before, "Though if you have to look for her, surely that's a sign that she doesn't want to be found?" he commented. The latter statement was dropped into conversation disguised as an innocent curiosity and Zack continued to watch the Seedot as if expecting a response of some kind, rather than returning to cleaning his fur or outright leaving the area.

"Um...yeah, I guess she doesn't want to be found...I'm looking for her for a friend of mine, she's made some bad decisions, and my friend, who is her best friend and is concerned for her safety, wanted me to go out and look for her because he became a bit ill tonight," the seedot lied.
Mirage kept a straight and un-entertained face as she listened to the seedot lie to their faces. She didn't know this creepy ludicolo, he apparently knew her and wanted some of her, but she her standards were higher than that. She also disliked this ludicolo's ways of trying to "woo" her, it wasn't even flirting it was an outright fox-hunt. She wished she could scratch that dancing duck's bill and show him she wasn't something to be caught.

Zack shrugged nonchalantly to the Seedot, "Well, what's your business is your business I suppose. I don't really need to know the entire story. Like I said i've never seen a Zorua before, let alone your friend's friend, so she can't be anywhere in the immediate vicinity. If she's as tricky as Zorua are rumoured to be though she's probably hiding right under your nose," he chuckled, trying to act friendly towards the Seedot, but also appearing to have a little fun with the knowledge that Mirage was really right there next to him, "Maybe she's somewhere you've already searched?"

"If she was somewhere I already searched wouldn't I have already found her?" the pokemon asked, rather confused about the statement.
"It's called time, pokemon can move as time passes you know," Mirage huffed, altering her voice slightly in case the Seedot knew what she sounded like. The "mightyena"'s ears created a ninety degree angle as one was raised upwards and the other lay flat. The bored look seemed to be stuck on her face with a tinge of confusion at the Seedot's stupidity.
"Oh..." the seedot spoke, looking a bit down, "Could you....perhaps help me in searching for her?" the seedot looked up hopefully, oblivious to the fact that he was asking two strangers he does not know in the middle of the night to travel with him.

Zack blinked, having not expected this sort of response from the Seedot. He actually kind of pitied him; after all he seemed to have no idea what he was doing, to the point where he would request help from, -albeit unknowingly- the very pokemon he was searching for.
The Sentret glanced at Mirage, hoping the Seedot would be as oblivious before as to realise it wasn't a glance of recognition, before he looked back to the Seedot, "Uhm.. maybe?"

"Great! Then you can help me by searching the trees," the seedot looked to the sentret with great hope in its eyes, "And you can track zorua scent!" the seedot looked to Mirage, except more above where her head actually was due to the height of the illusion.
The illusion mightyena's eyes widened as Mirage's head snapped towards Zack in a look of, "Did you really just say yes to that?" The mightyena's ears had flown back in a look of massive discontent to let the sentret know she was not happy with this decision.
"I-Is there something wrong with that?" the seedot stuttered.

Zack responded to the illusion disguised Zorua's look with a quick apologetic glance and a tiny shrug, as if to answer with, "Well technically I didn't actually say 'yes'." The Sentret then turned his attention back to the Seedot with a small flick of his ringed tail.
"I assume she doesn't want to help," replied Zack in a nonchalant way, "Though personally I'd like to see what stories you have that you could tell whilst we're searching for this Zorua of yours. I'm not actually from around here, so even the dullest of tales would probably interest me," he chuckled, not technically lying about his origins as he hadn't been born in the forest.
The Sentret attempted to remain friendly with the Seedot, whilst trying to hint to Mirage to just play along for now. They might find out some more information about the troublesome Ludicolo if they stuck with the Seedot for a little longer.

"Why doesn't she want to help?" the Seedot asked rather rudely and unfortunately for the sentret and zorua.
"Because my sniffer hasn't been workin' for days now," the zorua snapped as if she were irritated about it. It had been a lie, but her feelings were true as her grudge remained against the sentret for a moment more before eventually fading.
The small and hidden threat in the tone of the mightyena's voice was enough to satisfy the seedot, as it spoke, "Oh...well...sorry to hear that. Um...do you at least mind if I walk with you or something? I don't like being alone out in the woods like this."
Mirage's illusioned tail thumped against the ground, hardly making a sound due to her more fluffy tail than the mightyena's, she could mimic the look, but not the weight.