Forest of Secrets; A Pokemon Fanfiction

Chapter 4 Part 1

Bright

The first thing that I knew was the dark. I fled from it, yet it persisted on all sides. My fire shed no light. For all I knew, it had gone out. That had never happened before. In the total blackness, I was clumsy. There was no way to tell where I was or where I headed. Just to find some light. Even though I felt the rocks and discrepancies of the soil, even though I tripped and bumbled, stopping my flight from the black was not an option.

Once or twice, I remember running into someone. I would run, and run, and hit something and stop. Once or twice, that something was a someone.

The first time, it was Loppily. Something soft brushed up against my hand as I ran, so I flinched and whirled around. That touch, I knew it. It was the coat of fur around Lopy's hands. I knew. How could I not, when so much of my time was spent holding them? They held to mine firmly. Their strength said to never release the grip. She whispered to me, "Don't go. Every time you do, something happens. Don't leave me," but her hands were not strong enough. The force of black compelled me to go, to flee, and it pulled her hands away from mine. Some last lament fell from her darkness-hidden mouth, one that fell on darkness-smothered ears.

"Come back!"

But I was sucked away. Knowing that the dark had hurt her in taking me.

I was afraid of this dark.

Making way over ground one wasn't sure even existed in the black, I pondered why it took me and drove me on. What could it want me to flee from or to? Thoughts skipped in my mind like throwing stones tossed over the clear of a lake. They always hit bottom before I could retrieve them from the air.

I stepped on something unnatural. It was flat, and smooth, and warm. Warm like something living, as opposed to the neutral cool of the dark place. A yelp came from the right, a familiar voice. Too familiar. It became obvious I had stepped on a Gardevoir's skirt edge.

Dasher gasped, and I heard the clattering of rocks against the earth as he must have shrank back from me. "You! Leave me alone, why don't you? I'm perfectly fine as I am!" I try to explain, groping in darkness to find him. I need to explain that I won't hurt him, that I'm sorry I could not show him that he was misguided, that his only enemy was himself. His arm brushes up against my outstretched hands, and he flees.

I am alone once more. The cold hands of the dark brush up against me, and I run on like nothing had ever happened.

Sparkle

"What kind of strange experiences did you have?" Dasher reiterates tiredly. Still, I'm not sure how to tell him about... our father, or even if I should. How would he react? He seems in fragile enough condition already. How would such news, even as uncertain and unconfirmed as it is, affect him? No, I suppose while he deserves to know, now is not the right time. We have to get out if the forest, before we meet any other of the Possessed. Besides, both Lotus and Dasher could use some medical attention. The secret us not our current issue.

"We'll have to forget that for now, Dasher. Right now, we just need to get out if this Dialga-be-darned forest. I don't know about you, but I'm not real keen to die today."

Dasher shrugs and stiffly pulls himself completely on his feet, still leaning on that Rowan tree for support. "Fine then. I'll expect to hear full details later, of course." An amused grin tugs at his mouth. "Full details. Now lets get going, as you wish."

"I don't know that you would want full details. I do know that you can barely stand, let alone walk. And, ah, there's a little problem in the form of me not knowing where the mansion is exactly in the first place..."

I stand and stretch as much as I can, holding Lotus. Gesturing with his head mildly at Lotus and looking fairly perturbed, my brother asks, "And if we can't go anywhere, why suggest going in the first place? Doesn't Lotus know the way back anyways?"

Looking down at Lo's sweet sleeping face, it doesn't seem like he should know two plus two, let alone the way home... Or a secret, many strange secrets. "Lotus never leaves the house. How is he going to know? As to the other hassle, I think we should be able to move on now. Just, very carefully."

"True enough. Let's just pick a random direction. Maybe we'll be right."

Woozily, Dasher lets go of the tree and takes a step towards me. It looks like he will fall over any second, what with the way he sways. "Well, pick a direction," my brother repeats.

Considering his weariness, it doesn't appear like Dasher will be able to complete two more steps without falling over. An idea comes to me. Simple, but it should help us along. I don't want to stay here a moment longer than I have to. I shift Lotus over to one of my arms as gently as I can. He stirs a little, and curls a little tighter in. As if sleepwalking, his arm rises to his mouth and he sticks in one of his blue petals. Ew. If any other Pokemon put their mouth near there, they'd be horribly poisoned.

Reaching tentatively, I catch Dasher's hand in mine. His eyes widen at the touch, and he draws back away. Were it not for the Rowan tree behind him, he would have fallen over. "I don't need any support, little sis. I can walk alone."

"You can barely walk in the first place. Just swallow your Dialga-be-darned pride and take my hand. It's just so you can balance." More firmly this time, I hold my hand out to him.

Rolling his eyes and muttering to himself, he takes my hand in his. "I'd better not get cooties or anything."

"Dasher!"

Another small, devilish grin twists across his face. "Kidding. Don't mind me, I'm just the guy who likes messing with others heads. Especially if someone's already messed with mine as Full Moon has."

Sighing profusely at my sibling's idiosyncrasies, I set off at a snail's pace back through the undergrowth of the forest. This time though, I am weighed down not only by Lotus in my arms, but with a secret I have no idea what to do with as well as my recently ex-Possessed sibling. What could go wrong?

In case you are subtle-humor deficient as is Psycho, that was a little number named sarcasm.

Joy-joy

Slowly, I inspect myself in the mirror. Now clad in a blue tank-top, white half-sweater, and faded jeans, I feel much better than in the old pajamas I had worn of late. Certainly, I look a good deal better. It's surprising, how the little things can help life move on more smoothly.

Now, staring straight at myself, I realize that I have never bothered to speak of how I look. As seen in the mirror above my dresser, I see the same sight that always greets me; a cascade of coal-black hair down, long enough to sit on, not cut since my loud objections to chopping it off in the fourth grade. Splashes of freckles on my cheeks, and light brown eyes that match their color almost exactly. I stand taller than most people my age do, which would be eighteen. Just the same me I have seen since I moved to Unova. Except for one thing.

With distaste, I finger the grayish bags under my eyes. Those are new. Unpronounced, yet still there. What can be expected, I muse quietly to myself, when I've had perhaps eight hours of sleep since the twentieth? Maybe five hours then, and barely three last night. We woke up a little past midnight today, and its already eight or so. Ugh. I could use a nap, but what if something happened while I was sleeping? Believe me, something always happens.

For a while, I consider trying to hide that darkness under my eyes with cosmetics. Of course, as I said earlier, no one would notice either way. At the least, they wouldn't care even if I did. One of the benefits to living in the absence of other humans. Pokemon are so much easier to talk with, so less judgmental.

A little more confidently, I walk out into the living room. As I expected, nothing new has happened. Lopy looks both bored and emotionally pained. Twirla stares off into nothing. Rascal snores in the armchair. Spark- well, my Mew, you can guess how she still paces. I've taken her restless wanderings as a sort of metaphor for what it's like for us still at the mansion; we're circling. Running nervously in an unbroken circle. This doesn't help ourselves, let alone anyone else. Thinking of anyone else, I can't help but wonder what is going on in the forest. Considering how rough it is just over here, I can't imagine what the Possessed or Sparkle are going through right now...