Forest of Secrets; A Pokemon Fanfiction

Chapter 1 Part 3

Joy-Joy

Half an hour later, Roku, me, Spark, and Sparkle were walking through the forest. Roku assured us we were well on Dasher's trail, and that it led up to the Gaia Tree. The Gaia Tree is this giant tree about in the center of the forest, and lots of forest Pokemon usually hang near there. Of course, Dasher probably had been stumbling blindly and didn't head there on purpose, according to Roku. Roku doesn't say much, so I knew that he thought it was important since he did say it. Just to recap, Roku is a Lucario, and Lucario can sense the aura of beings. Aura is emotions and life energy in a pure form, only able to be sensed by Lucario, Riolu, and select Psychic Pokemon trained specifically to track it.

The forest seems empty of the usual busy Pokemon. It is a strange occurrence, but I put it off as it being early in the morning, and everyone with sense being asleep. Dasher, on the other hand, lacks their common sense.
A few paces from the Gaia Tree, Roku halts and breathes deeply. He makes a funny growl in the back of his throat. "Bright has been here. Dasher's over there."
Sure enough, Dasher is slumped over a huge tree root, out cold. I run up and inspect him for injury, but there's nothing physical. At first, I wonder if he had ticked off Bright, and Bright knocked him out. Except that Bright really is not an easy Pokemon to tick off, even for Dasher. "He must have scared himself to the point where he knocked himself clean out, I guess," I announce.
Sparkle is over in a flash, double-checking to make sure he's not injured. "Yeah, he seems fine," she confirms.
Low chuckles escape Spark. "Idiot kid. I knew he was over-reacting. Now, since he obviously can't walk when knocked out, I'll carry him to the mansion. Just lay him on my back, and we can revive him at home." Sparkle and I oblige, and we team-lift him into Spark. Dasher looks funny, lying on her back like that. He certainly look more peaceful than usual, which is a good change for him.

Just then, Roku perks up. He glaces up nervously. "Psycho's here. In the tree."
We all glance up. In one of the low branches of the Gaia Tree, Psycho crouches. He seems... out of it. His eyes are unfocused and while he's looking in our direction, he seems almost to be looking right through us.
"Hey, Psycho!" Sparkle calls. "Dasher thought you were lost. Come on, let's go back to the mansion and have breakfast." There's no response but a tilt of his head, cocked at a strange angle as if he can't understand us.

Then he leaps out of the tree... and onto Roku. From nowhere, he launches a Drain Punch. Roku panics and ducks the blow, bending over backwards to escape the hit. Blow after blow rains from Psycho, Low Sweep and Drain Punch, super-effective fighting type moves. Roku nips and dodges the vicious blows like Arceus himself was behind the attacks. He is too shocked at Psycho's queer misbehavior to retaliate. It's lucky he's one of the most evasive Pokemon in the Mansion.
Spark stands stock-still under Dasher's minimal weight, wanting to help Roku, but unable to without risking Dasher. Sparkle and I rush over to defend Roku, who still isn't throwing a punch in self-defense. Sparkle shouts something, but I don't quite catch what it is. Before Psycho manages to get a hit on Roku, she flings herself in front of him and Protects Roku. I try to tackle Psycho, but poorly miss, ending up face-first on the ground behind him. "Psycho!" I shout.

The Protect surprises Psycho, and stops his Drain Punch cold. A bad habit of his kicks in. When he startles greatly, his elbow swords shoot out, even if he doesn't want them out in the first place. Due to the surprise Protect, his punching arm's elbow extends and hits his other arm, which is crossed over his chest. Pain causes him to recoil from the self-inflicted blow. With a furtive glance back at us, Psycho dashes off into the bracken and disappears from sight. The rest of us stand there, stunned.

"Guys?" Spark's voice shakes just barely as she pads uncertainly over. "What in Mew's name just happened?"
I pick myself up off the ground and dust myself off, staring deeply into the patch of woods that Psycho had ran off into. "Something very wrong, Spark. Something very wrong."

Psycho

I drift lazily out of a strange dream that I am certain I have had before. The world spins, gray and black. It feels like I am at the axis of a whirling merry-go-round. I am not entirely sure how I got here in the first place. The feeling of motion and whirling and twisting should be frightening, but I'm just relaxed and enjoying the ride. Wow, I realize that I feel rather insubstantial too. Am I a ghost? Where is my body? Huh, what an interesting sentence. Where's my body, where's my body, where oh where oh where's me body... I giggle convulsively. I sound like Sparkle! Giggle, giggle, goofy sister.
Wait, where's Sparkle? Or Rascal for that matter? I just fell asleep, is this a dream? They should be around because we all sleep outside, me in my hammock, and I don't normally spin around and around in gray, possibly imaginary realms. My conscious clears a little. It comes to me that I should not be spinning like this, as it is probably very out of the ordinary.
Pain shoots up my arm, and I understand it even though I'm not connected to it. Or, I don't feel connected to it. With a rush, I realize someone else is there, in this realm. I recognize this place as my unconscious mind. I also manage to connect together that this other consciousness was the one who was making me spin around. That the other consciousness is the one attached to, controlling my body right now. I'm not sure how I know this stuff, but I just... do. The other consciousness is a shadow creeping in my mind, making my body is moving without me.

Panic slips in. This isn't right. I need to get this shadow away and out of me, by Mew. No intruders in me today or any other day! My arm's throbbing in pain now, and it clears my thoughts further more. I chase at the shadow, leaping off of the sphere I was spinning on, and my physical self lurches and lands on something hard as the shadow whirls to face me. The launch off of the sphere quickly, but then just drift around. This place has no gravity. Still, I manage to make into the shadow before it reacts. I bash into it with my insubstantial... conscious part of my mind or something, I guess. Shoo shadow! Get out! It hisses furtively when I bump into it, and slips away from my mind without much struggle, relinquishing control. My body goes limp, and my limited conscious fades into complete blackness.

I'm not sure what happened next, but I wake up in a cave. By Mew, my arm hurts! The rest of me feels fine. I decide to use my fine eyes to take a gander about. Light shines feebly from the entrance of the cave, and beyond the entrance is the forest. The cave itself is normal rocks and stalactites and a Leavanny...
Wait, a Leavanny?
She sits delicately on a gently sloped shelf of rock and gazes at me. Great Giratina, she is cute. A tiny leaf tiara rests on her head between her antennae, and she smiles as I sit up. I take great care not to bend my left arm, but it still hurts. I notice a couple of Sewaddle behind her and guarding the front of the cave.

"Good morning Sir," she says courteously to me. Wow, even her voice is cute! "My name is Matrifol, Leafen Queen of Bugs. May I have the pleasure of knowing yours?"
"Uh..." I guess it's not the most charming start to a sentence. "I'm Psycho, one of the Champion's loyal Gallade." Stupid, stupid, stupid! Sure, it was nice and... fancy-sounding, but I forgot that most of the forest Pokemon in these parts scorn us "Tamed Ones", as they say. I might have just ruined any good feelings she had for me in the first place... Dasher would laugh, me the social Butterfree, fooling myself in front of a pretty girl.

Maybe I should have let that shadow stay and control me after all...