Forest of Secrets; A Pokemon Fanfiction

Chapter 3, Part 10

Only one more chapter after this! <3 thanks to everyone who's read this far. This is more like some twisted novel of the Pokemon world than an actual fanfic, really. And for this chapter, in celebration, leave a comment on who you ship, if you do ship anyone in Forest of Secrets! I'm curious! Thanks.

Psycho

Miley and Cygnus waddle confidently on the path in front of me. The former give a backwards glance at me as she walks. You know, I'm not entirely sure where we're walking to in the first place. Both of them just sort of told me to follow them. They set a slow pace, which is good for me. I feel as if I've been running all around the place with no regard to my health whatsoever. Actually, I think that's what happened.
“So... you wouldn't happen to know where the mansion is, would you?”
She gives a funny stare in response to my question. “Wat be mansion?”
“Oh, right, you probably don't know much about humans. A mansion is a big house.”
Now Cygnus turns his head. How can they keep walking like that? “Wat be a 'ouse? You speak kinda funny, using strange words.”
With a sigh, I try to find the right way to put this. “Well, a house is like, uh, a living area for humans. It has a roof to keep off rain, walls, doors, just... it's a place to live.” I pathetically mime the shape of a house with my hands. Triangle roof, square base.
Both put their heads together and whisper as they waddle. They bother to don't whisper quietly enough. “Wat is Ty talking about?” Cygnus hisses.
“Beats me. It be some place of some kind, I don't know w'ere it be t'ough. Or wat it is. You know wat a roof is?”
“Nope. We just keep going t'en, get 'im to the 'idden Forest to get fixed up.”
“Bring 'im to the 'idden Forest? Everybody kill us!”
“For 'elping an injured Pokemon? Look at 'is arm, t'ere somet'ing funny and w'ite on it. I'll wager my wings 'e needs 'elp of some kind.”
“Fool brother! Dey kill us because 'e be of the Tamed Ones!"
“YIKES! 'Ow you come to dat conclusion, meh? You be crazy fool, Miley. I would know, I've been stuck wit you since I born.” They halt in their march as the debate starts to warm up. If there's anything these two seem to love, it's a good argument.
“'E come from strangely-named place, 'e not a kind of Pokemon I can recognize, and 'e speaks all funny too. 'E's not from the forest, I can tell you tat!” Miley rebukes him sternly.
The dispute continues on a bit more. I smile quietly and sneak up right between them. They don't notice until I crouch down and whisper, “You know I can hear every word you say.” Even as wide-footed as we are, Gallade can be pretty quiet.
“WAHH!” Miley startles. She whips round, brushing my face with her outspread wingtips. “Don't do tat, Ty. I t'ought one of t'e Darkened was going to get me!” She waggles a wing severely at me, in imitation of giving a good scolding. Cygnus scoffs quietly at her behavior and smooths his ruffled plumage. Miley gives him a glare for his manner, but they stop arguing.

“You know,” I tell them, “I really am one of the Pokemon you call Tamed Ones. Almost though, I wouldn't call us Tamed Ones like that...”
“Really?” the Ducklett squeak. They huddle closer to me. “Wat's it like t'ere? Is it true tat tah 'uman is your master? Do you really fit into a tiny magical orb? W'ere you from? You not from Unova, tat's sure. Wat kind of Pokemon are you?” A flood of questions flows from them. They bounce up and down, eagerly awaiting my returning chatter. It seems that being from the mansion significantly increases the interest they take in me. It takes a minute to recollect all the questions and come up with suitable answers.
“Uh... let me see. It's nice enough I suppose. Joy's more like a relative living in the same place than a master. Technically, she's my trainer. Orb..? Oh, my pokeball. Well, I don't go in much, but I do fit. It's not magical in the least. Not quite sure how it works. As to me myself, I'm from this place called Sinnoh.” They gaze up at me in awe, as if I was an alien who crash-landed in their forest. I suppose it must seem somewhat like that to them.
“But wat kind of Pokemon you be?” Miley quips loquaciously.
“I'm called a Gallade.” Cygnus gives a try at the name. “Guh-lade. Gallade. Wat a funny name. Wat can a Gallade do?”
“Do?” I question.
The puzzlement must have shown on my face, because Miley instantly tries to explain. “You know, special t'ings. Like, Swanna can fly. W'irlipede roll all funny like t'ey do. Escavalier have t'ose cool swords even!”
I consider this a minute. “Swords, huh? I guess you'd be interested in this then...” Standing up, I angle my good arm so the my elbow doesn't face either myself of the Ducklett. Thrusting forward my arm and flexing a couple of triggering muscles, it extends. Both Ducklett gasp tremendously as the long sword unsheathes from my arm. Most expect a Gallade's blade to be some sharp toothpick-looking thing that magically extends from arm at will. Not quite. The blade is rounded at the top, arched perfectly to fit with the curving of the outside of my forearm. It isn't a tube though, a circle all the way around. Almost halfway around, the sword cuts off and dips in slightly, so if you looked at it from the point on the end you'd see a half circle with a dip down in the center. The dip is to accommodate for the actual bone in my arm. After all, if it was some solid tube all the way around, how would it fit into my arm when detracted?
“Do it again, do it again!” Cygnus cheers. “Tat was great!”
I've grown somewhat fond of these two. So, I consent to oblige. Retracting the right sword, I shift so they can see my left arm. All that's left is to flex the triggering muscles. To my nervousness, it won't come out. There's a strange numbness in the arm, where my bandage is. It occurs to me that if my arm is broken, then the sword in it might have been damaged too. I hope it will heal with my arm as well. Covering for the unexpected inability, I step back and flick my right sword back out with a flourish. Again, the Ducklett squeal delightedly.

“So,” I begin, deciding to use my new-found popularity to learn some things, “since you obviously don't know anything about the mansion, can you tell me where you were planning on leading my to?”
Cygnus perks up and flaps a little in excitement. “Oh! It's-” Before he gets the sentence out, Miley quiets him with a heavy squawk and a knock of her wing on his beak. “It's secret! None of tah Tamed Ones are supposed to know!” With a glare, her brother pulls back and shoves her wing back at her.
“If you're taking me there anyways, it won't remain secret for long, will it?” I reason.
Miley looks a little taken aback. “Ooh... I didn't t'ink of tat. If tat's tah way it is... tah place we're 'eaded is call the 'idden Forest. I don't know wat kind of greeting you'll get, but dey won't turn away an injured Pokemon. It's a nice place. I t'ink you'd like to see it for yourself.”
This didn't sound 'alf, uh, I mean half bad. I suppose I'd have to see what this whole Hidden Forest place was like myself.

Joy-joy

Silently, I lean against the wall next to my bedroom door. We have nothing. Zip, zilch, nada defense. Nothing to keep off this Darkrai. Only-
"-a Dialga-be-darned hole in my heart, great Giratina, a bothersome tear. By Mew, why they won't let me..." Spark's muttering fades out as she walks past me, circling around the living room for the hundredth time. When she comes back from around the furniture again, her muttering is audible once more; "...and Dialga-darn them, no right whatsoever to tell me to say behind, why can't..."

Meanwhile, Lopy and Twirla sit despondently on the couch, twiddling their thumbs. Well, only figuratively. They think deeply to themselves about our situation. Rascal sits sedately in the armchair and watches Spark's wanderings with some amusement. I doubt she notices. If Spark did, I would bet that she is to the point that she'd just zap him out of frustration with all of us in general. Just a little bit of a shock, but still. Believe me, Spark can get ill-tempered when held back like she is now.
I run my fingers through my hair again, an imitation of Twirla's common habit. Nothing, I repeat to myself. We have no way to defend ourselves against a Darkrai. Perhaps we could go with Lopy's idea of staying awake all night, but then what would we do about Dark Void when Full Moon decided to make the visit in person? No matter how I turn the situation, some problem always is able to rear it's ugly head and bite back. How do you solve something with no (obvious) solution?

Queenie makes an appearance by descending from some obscure point in the ceiling I hadn't noticed before. More likely than not, she has been around the whole morning, watching. I really need to remember to look up when any Pokemon with the ability to get up on or near that chandelier is around. Speaking of other Pokemon, I wonder where everyone else has wandered off to. There are a good deal of Pokemon here, from when I actually started to catch some, and most have disappeared somewhere deep into the mansion. They probably don't want to get involved in this. Not that that particular policy kept Cosmo or Gust from getting Possessed.

"Joooy-joy, Queenie thinks yooou loook zzzad. Izzz becauzzze they took the Lotuzzz?" Queenie's mandibles clack concernedly as she hovers down to face-level with me. She looks positively worried. "Laaazzzt time theee otherzzz taken, yooou were not as zzzaaad."
Her statement puzzles me a second. "What, Queenie?"
"Yooou more zzzaaad now that theee Lotuzzz was taaaken." My Vespiquen circles forlornly about my head as I step away from the wall for better conversing. Her sentiment triggers a small observation; everyone had been less tense yesterday. Sure, we were all worried, but that was small potatoes. Our friends were in danger, and helping them was the goal. Lotus's antics lightened the dark of the day. Unsurprisingly, I did miss him, very much and along with Bright.
"I suppose you are right as usual," I tell her softly. "You don't miss much, do you?"
Queenie clicks her jaws and stops her circling to run a hooked hand down my hair. "Neeever mizzz anything. Nooot mizzz funny appeaaarance neither."
Whirling to face her, and ending up staring straight into her glowing eyes, I blush. "What?"
"Zzzame clothes as yeeezzzterday. Fooorget get ouuut of pajaaamazzz?"
Embarrassingly, it is obvious with a quick glance downward at my garb that she is right. The purple fuzzy pajamas with hearts that I happen to be wearing looks ridiculous in light of our current situation. Completing the ensemble are my white house slippers. With a moan, I realize that it is entirely possible that I wore this since yesterday, and in all the excitement and events, forgot to change to normal clothes. At the very least, it is also hopeful that no-one cared, or even noticed anyways. That's the great thing about Pokemon; they don't really judge by appearance as much as people do. For the most part, what a human wears doesn't matter.

Still, I think as I slide into my bedroom and close the door so as to block Queenie's unsettling stare, I'd better go and get dressed properly... And hopefully, things won't grow disproportionately worse when I do so.
But you can never tell with this place.