Forest of Secrets; A Pokemon Fanfiction

Chapter 3, Part 6

Psycho 

After my disturbing line of thoughts, I feel kind of depressed. It's also agitating me that bad thing like that can happen so easily. Blaming myself vaguely, but not directly for the problem, I lay on the path and think haphazardly of anything that comes to mind. I've long since ceased to function.

It's too lonely out here.

I wish someone would come and relieve me of the silence that came after I stopped running. Anyone, even Spark. I like Spark just fine, but she has a habit of making me feel like I ought to find another place to be. This sentiment gives me a feeling of deja-vu, like this has happened before. Not Spark's awkwardness, but the lonely feeling.

My eyes droop in exhaustion, and there's something funny around. It's yet another feeling, a prickle down one's spine. Like I'm being watched.

Next thing I know, I'm still in the dirt, but it's not the dirt of a path. There's leaves mixed in too, I can feel them crunch under my arms, and there's some where my back horn has suck into the dirt. I was weary before, but the tiredness is even more ponderous now. Strangely, I realize that I'm drenched. I could open my eyes, but what might I see next? Light seeps into them just a little, tinting the darkness red. Someone's speaking;

“You tink we need to blast more water at 'im? 'E's out cold now,” the first voice chirps.

“Better tan 'im rushing at us again. Tat was scarey. If'n we wake 'im up, wat might 'e do this time?” another one replies.

“Nope, 'e be fine, not rush us again. I'm telling ya, 'e's gotten right Darkened, 'e 'as. It would be tah only good reason.”

“Meybe 'e's just crazy.”

“Pshaw! Lookee tis, 'e be fine!” A gurgle precludes a sloshing sound.

Some wet washes over my head, and I sit up, sputtering. Just as I do so, a shadow slips back into my mind. Full Moon! Tuning out the material world, I focus on the intruder. He's nothing more than a black outline, in that same gray area of my psyche. Like last time, I am again a vague consciousness. Again, I try to bash whatever that little conscious part of me is, into him and drive him out. Unlike last time, he simply drifts out of the way, already anticipating my move beforehand. Grabbing onto a floating blob, he sends a black glob of memory careening my way.

“It's raining this morning, Joy. Doesn't that mean it's a bad time to go out and train?” I stare out the Pokemon Center's window forlornly. I don't much care to go out in the rain.

Dasher gives me a funny face, sticking out his tongue and waggling his hands. “It's always raining in Pastoria. Forget that, I wanna evolve!”

Joy smiles quietly at us. She looks younger than she does nowadays. I think it's the lack of height, since she went through such a growth spurt in the last couple of years. Complained about growing out of her favorite jacket, I remember.

“Weathering the weather, rain or shine, is a good way to start becoming stronger,” she tells me.

“I'll weather the fiercest storms, and they'll call me, Dasher the Destructive!” my brother admonishes, pumping his arms like a Machop showing of it's muscles. I giggle convulsively at the sight.

“For now, we're kind of wimpy. There's not any muscle to show off, is there?” I ask.

“Oh, I'll gain some muscle when I'm Gallade,” he rebukes. 

Water rushes over me again and I'm sputtering once more. Full Moon seems concerned by something else, distracted. Silently, he releases the memories and leaves just as abruptly as he came. I pry open my eyes after scrubbing the sleepy-stuff and water off of them. I find that I'm sitting in the forest, definitely the forest near the mansion to my utmost relief. It's not a part I recognize, but I know it's in the same forest because the trees are of about the same species, some kind of tree I never bothered to learn the name of. A pair of Ducklett stare open-beaked at me. It takes a minute of staring from both of us before they burst out with a strange wail, “Bwaaaaah!” and hug each other tightly.