In Your Head; A Pokemon Sword and Shield Tale

(Prologue)

You took the ferry from Hammerlocke to Wedgehurst, keeping her close with you, as you worried at this point she wouldn't be able to find her way like this if she got lost. You didn't keep her in her pokeball regularly, and you weren't sure if now was a good time to coop her up in there. Many warm greetings from friends later and the room grew suspiciously tense as Professor Sonia looked over Zoroark, doing a general check of the essentials. Hop had never had a chance to do a check on a Zoroark before and watched closely as she examined her, but also tried to maintain a respectful distance. He'd seen the worry in your eyes and tried his best to not make that worse. 

Generally, Sonia ended up telling you that she looked normal overall. Nothing was wrong with her physically, and that it was more of a psychological problem. When you ended up asking what you could do about the nightmares, she'd suggested you go into the Slumbering Weald. Down by the shrine, specifically, as she thought the calming air and waters around there would help alleviate her stresses (especially from living in a lively place like Hammerlocke), and maybe help her sleep easier that night. If you felt confident enough, you could even plan to set up camp there and spend the night. She'd also told you that Hop should come with you, as he was planning on studying the shrine the next day, as there was still some writings on the pillars that they had to decipher, and it would take a good few hours anyways to record all of them.

She accentuated this point to you, as she warned it was CRUCIAL that you NOT go into the Slumbering Weald alone. Despite the legendary dogs being gone for several years now, there were still very dangerous and powerful pokemon deeper in the woods that you'd need help getting past. 

And here you were. Alone, with Zoroark, about halfway into the Slumbering Weald. You had really meant to wait outside of Hop's house, like he'd asked you to, but looking at Zoroark trying desperately not to fall asleep while standing up...It put a sinking and guilty feeling in your chest. You almost couldn't stand to look at her anymore. You'd suddenly stood up, swelling with a foolish bravery as you walked over to your partner, quietly grabbing her hand in yours and starting to lead her along. You could tell she wanted to argue with you, but not a sound escaped her. 

At the moment she seemed to be a shell of what she was when you'd entered the woods. She didn't really respond to any of your calls to her, and neither did she look at you. You fell back to grab her hand again, just trying to gently urge her along the path. Carefully you waded your way through the tall tufts of grass. You both slowly managed to slip past some Wheezing floating through the fog. Along the lines you and her were spotted by a pair of wild Corviknight sitting on some low stumps, though luckily, this time, they decided to leave you alone, as you were walking rather briskly and seemed like you'd be out of their way soon enough. You passed an Orbeetle on the way as well and for a moment you felt Zoroark's body shake as you passed by, feeling her squeeze your hand. You gently squeezed back and then sighed in relief when you spotted a soft yellow light starting to break through the fog. 

"We've almost made it!" You didn't notice that you were briskly jogging by this point and pulling Zoroark along behind you. Slowly the fog started to fade and more of the shrine came into view, the warm light starting to grow and light up your face. About a few good feet from the foot of the shrine a low sound started to escape Zoroark's throat, and you didn't really have a second to react before she pulled herself out of your grip, stumbling to a standstill a few feet behind you. You'd never heard her make that sound before. 

"C'mon girl, we're right here! You did it!"  You'd turned and held your arms out to her, realizing quietly that you hadn't done so since she was a little Zorua. Her head lifted to look at you. It didn't look like she was thinking the same thing as you. In fact, you started to question if she was looking past you instead. For a minute, though, her feet didn't move. She just stood there staring idly at you for a few seconds, her gaze now seeming spaced and almost freaked out.