Forest of Secrets; A Pokemon Fanfiction

Chapter 1, Part 8

Dasher
So we walk through the forest following Roku. Eventually, I come across a scorched tree.
Time to give you some pleasant Deja-Vu.
"Look at this, you guys. This is obviously Bright's scorch mark, and even without Roku, I'm certain that Bright's been here. Unless you have some ideas as to why a tree would be scorched?"
"What a genius. I never would have guessed." Why does Spark steal my thunder and use sarcasm? Sarcasm's MINE.
"I just hope Bright doesn't do that to us when we find him. He could have set the forest on fire." Too true. A fiery forest = horrible death.
I hear a twig crack somewhere to the side of us.
Roku goes nuts. "PSYCHO'S BACK, I CAN FEEL IT! KEEP HIM AWAY FROM ME!"
He jumps into a low branch on the scorched tree, and covers his head. Poor dude, this is too much for him. Spark glares in the direction of the noise. I suspect she uses her X-ray abilities, because she jumps right through a bush and... I assume right onto Psycho, from the muffled "Oof!". Psycho mustn't be having a very good day today.
Me, Roku, and Sparkle stand there like spooked Skitty while Spark calls out, "I got him Roku! Don't worry!"
Psycho begins to speak in low tones, and Spark answers him. This goes on for a minute until Spark says that Psycho's sound of mind, probably.
The rest of us cautiously head over to Psycho and Spark. Psycho's looking pretty lost, as per se usual. It doesn't seem that he remembers attacking anybody, because he asks us what's going on.
The rest of us shift around, not sure what to say. I mean, how are you supposed to tell someone they attacked someone else, without remembering a thing?
"Kid," Spark begins, "you and Bright were possessed, and you attacked Roku. What do you remember about this?" Bluntly works, I suppose.
Psycho looks a little shocked for a second. "Well. That might explain some things."
He bites his lip. "I don't remember what happened exactly. I remember... spinning and a shadow. The shadow was in my mind, I figured out that it wasn't good, and that I ought to get it out. So, I drove it out of my mind. I guess. Next thing, I wake up and..."
Psycho blushes so deep his face looks like a tomato. "And what?" I press.
"Someone was there... She, I mean they, fixed my arm up they had to leave, and I've been trying to find my way home since."

Spark gives another Classic Demonic Laugh. "Sounds like you have a girlfriend."
Psycho blushes more deeply, if possible.

Joy-Joy
Rascal and me drag Twirla onto the couch, (Yes, the very same one Dasher had been on not half an hour ago) and... well, leave her there. It would avoid immediate trouble and a year's worth of questions, but she will not be pleased when she comes to.
Rascal agrees to follow us into the basement, if only to keep an eye on Lotus.

We descend the stairs and I head over to a book-shelf on the far wall. You see, what I'm looking for is a set of journals one of the previous owners made. He wrote them about twenty five years ago, to record great events in his life. If something strange happened, it might have been written in one of them.

Lotus interests himself in an old Props box, probably used long ago in Musicals or Contests. He doesn't seem to be harming them or anything, so I let it be. Rascal keeps an eye on him, though I notice him compare a beard from the box to his own. Yes, my Empoleon has beard, a white one too. Moving on, I skim the old shelves for the journals. Pokemon Care manuals, Dictionaries, tomes full of battle strategies and Unovan history books... There's a lot of books there.
Finally, I find a collection of four journals, all by Paul Ector, the mansion's owner twenty-five years ago. The third one is the one dated twenty-five years back exactly, so I pull it out and dust it off. I sneeze from the dust and drop the book. "Ach-CHOO!"

Lotus looks up from the Chimchar mask he had been examining. Oh dear, he's wearing a Turtwig mask, that looks really weird. "Bless you. Did you find it?"

I sniffle and pick the book up. "Yes Lotus." Hey, look at that! It fell open to March eighteenth, close to the twenty first. Lotus shrugs and goes back to the Props. I look closely at the text. A lot of it has smudged and faded, but I can barely make out some letters;

M rch Eig tee th

As I w nt on my us al walk in the F rest, I had the mo t ext ordi ary ncount r!
A stra gely da k Po emon f om anot er regi n was un er the Gai Tre ! More su rising, it spo e to e. He to d me to ple se l ave this plac . He as lo king for oon S ad w, a fr end of his. e h ped to te l her his tr e f eli gs about her. If

It left off at "If", dues to some dark stain on the page. A Pokemon from another region, described as dark nonetheless! You don't usually see such Pokemon in Unova. Perhaps this is 'the dark one' from the riddle? I flipped a couple pages forward. Who was Moon Shadow, if I pieced that word together right? This Pokemon loved her and wanted to tell her so? Did she reject him? Perhaps it would say on the Twenty first.

Marc T en y- irst

To ay ha be n fri h ting an di turb ng! F ll Mo n was te ring the Fo est ap rt ear y th s mor ing lo king for Moon Sha ow, w om we t mis ing th t nig t. He...
It continues onward, describing how Full Moon, the dark foreign Pokemon was crashing through the forest looking and calling for Moon Shadow, his lover. Apparently, she hadn't rejected him when he told her he had liked her a couple days back. Full Moon is anguished at her sudden disappearance. This sounds spookily like the riddle Bright spouted out...
...the lady has sung,
five day of searching have just begun.
On the twenty-fifth year after that fated third twenty-first,
the dark one cries, he is once more cursed.

I flip through the next four pages. Full Moon has no luck. But on the fifth day, he finds her... cornered at the edge of the forest, by strange men with Pokemon also from another region. Full Moon fights against the men and their Pokemon, who have bound up Moon Shadow. Paul also uses his Pokemon to fight the men, but his get knocked out. In the end, it's down to two foe Pokemon, and Full Moon. Full Moon tries to put them asleep, like he did the other Pokemon, but one of the Pokemon has Worry Seed and uses it on the other... a Fighting and Steel type. It doesn't mention the name, but I know it's a Lucario they have, because Lucario are the only Fighting/Steel Types I know. So the Lucario has Insomnia and can't fall asleep. Full Moon is useless against it, and the Lucario knocks him out with Aura Sphere. The strange men drive away in their truck, with Moon Shadow, uselessly trying to wiggle free of her bonds, trying to imitate a smaller Pokemon so she can escape...
It makes little sense to me.

Psycho
We all establish that I am fine and non-possessed. Roku says he should have known in the first place, since my aura had no taint on it. So, they let me accompany them to find Bright, who may or may not be a maniac when we find him. This should be interesting.

Dasher cheers up considerably since he has ammunition to tease me with. "How cute was she, what type was she? Does she have any idea you like her?"
"No comment."
"Come on. Was she short, like a Deerling or something? That would be awkward."
I roll a Pecha berry around in my palm. "My height."
He claps his hands together. "Oh GOODIE. That really narrows it down... was she a Seedot?"
"Ha ha ha, very funny. Just because I'm abnormally short doesn't mean I'm THAT short. Plus, Seedot's not Unovan."
"Mmm. Must have been a Garbodor since your so cagey about it."
"NOT GARBODOR." I can't help but give a slight sigh. "It's not like it matters. I doubt I will see her again anyways."

Spark gives us a dirty look. "Hush kids, Bright's near."
"And you know this... how?" Dasher inquires. Spark twitches her tail. "Trust me. We are CONNECTED. Really deeply. Like, in our SOULS."
"Which it why you believed me right away when I said something was wrong with him and Psycho disappearing."
She grunts and turns away. "Well, Roku said he's close, so HUSH."

Roku twitches and stops where he is. "He's near alright. Beyond that tree. The taint's still on his aura, but I can not tell if it is controlling him or not."
Yikes. I hope he's sane.

We edge slowly around the tree. Bright's in the middle of a small clearing I like to train in. Lots of rocks to hit. Bright himself is crouched over, and breathing heavily. He twitches a few times and looks up at us. His eyes are unfocused. He doesn't LOOK sane.
Creepily, he stands up. And launches a Fire Blast in our direction! He doesn't ACT sane either!
Bright howls and gallops toward us on all four limbs. Spark howls back and rushes towards him in a Quick attack. He staggers back from the impact, and manages to slug her with a swift Close Combat. Spark winces in the flailing blows, and takes advantage of his lowered Defense by steeling her tail, and thrusting an Iron Tail on him with all her might. Bright Flame Thrower's her back without at second thought, at close-range. It hits him too, but he doesn't seem feel it. Spark yelps like a Lillipup and cringes. It Burned her! Her body engulfs in bright orange flames for a second as the burn takes effect. Roku yelps too, and runs out to help. I'm wondering what he's thinking, because none of the rest of us are strong enough to take one hit from Bright, and Roku's at a type disadvantage for both Fire and Fighting moves.

The rest of us begin to unfreeze too. Spark shakily stands up and Thunders Bright, blinding me for a second with the radiance of the bolt of electricity. He takes it with no reaction! Ignoring Spark for a minute, Bright raises his arm and forms a Focus Blast. He gives it a swift aim at Roku from eight feet away. Roku gasps, tumbles back from the impact of the energy sphere, and crumples in an unconscious heap. Sparkle chooses this moment to take action by running out from behind the safe little tree, and hitting Bright with a full-blast Hypnosis. It does... nothing. Bright turns her way and aims an intense Flamethrower in her direction, but she Protects herself. The Protect doesn't last long against the Flamethrower, and breaks into disintegrating shards as soon as Bright ceases blasting her. Me and Dash finally gather the wits to go out there, and we run like a pack of Mightyana is chasing us.

Spark meanwhile has been determinedly been crawling over to help the rest of us, getting pained by her Burn all the way. By the time us two join the battle, she has maneuvered herself behind Bright and Iron Tail's him once more. He acts no more harmed than if she had used Splash. It does irritate him though, and he blows a great Fire Blast from his gaping jaw behind him. Spark ducks and it misses horribly, but her Burn flares brilliantly and pains her once more. She faints. I guess it was just too much damage for even her to take. Now, it's just the three of us amateurs against a fired-up psychotic scarey Bright. Even my commonly cheerful psyche says that we'll die.

Without skipping a beat, Bright Fire Blasts us and Sparkle Protects all three of us once again. I can feel the heat, even Protected as I am, and I know as weak as this one is, Sparkle probably can't summon another. With all haste, I nip out of the Protect and use Low Sweep. Bright jumps up to dodge it, and slams some Close Combat in on my injured arm. It's the last thing I remember of this horrible battle; Horrible pain in my arm. Then, darkness.