Forest of Secrets; A Pokemon Fanfiction

Chapter 4, Part 6

Dasher

This place is actually pretty crowded, for "Hidden Woods". I hadn't noticed it on the way away from the infirmary, but there's a pretty large amount of Pokemon slinking around the leaves here. A lot of them stop and stare at me and Psycho, as if we are aliens, when we pass by. For the most part, I'm just looking for someone vaguely friendly. We need to ask where this Chancellor guy is, so we can save Sparkle fast. Problem is, a lot of the faces peering down through the branches seem more suspicious than helpful. I don't think that the Sewaddle glaring from that Oran tree is going to give us directions.
We seem to be in a berry grove now. Psycho stares up at the trees with a look on his face that is somewhere between hungry and nervous.
"They probably wouldn't like it if I took a berry and ate it, right?"
I am hungry too, but Psycho is right. "Look at how neatly those branches are trimmed," I note to him. "Someone must have been working hard at growing these tree. They would probably be very upset if we took from their hard work without asking first." It's a similar thing with Golly at home. You can't just help yourself to anything she makes without permission. Any item in the kitchen could be for someone specific, so you have to ask first. If you don't, she gets mad. Trust me, an angry chef is a very bad thing to have on your hands.

A Lilligant steps out from the behind a nearby Sitrus tree.
"'Tis right of you to decide not to take what is not yours in the first place." She cocks her arm in a way much like Ken did to his wing earlier. "I am Doredia. What might you be?"
"I'm Psycho," my brother says pleasantly, "and this is my brother Dasher."
The Lilligant shakes her head. "No, not just your names. I mean to say, if 'tis not too impolite, what kind of Pokemon are you exactly?"
Oh. It is going to be hard to get used to all these Pokemon not having any idea what we are.
"I'm a called a Gardevoir, and Psycho is a Gallade."
"Ah." She still looks confused. "Well, what brings you here? It is certain that I have not seen you around before."
"We just need to see the Chancellor Peaseblossom. Would you happen to know where he is?" I secretly tug Psycho back by his back horn. It surprises him enough to stop the oncoming torrent of questions already forming on his lips. We don't want him to mess this up.
Nodding, she points back to the the river. "He usually resides within the Cavern Palace. You may find it upstream, through the waterfall. I warn you, 'tis a long walk.
"Thank you," I say courteously. Good. Now we know where Sparkle may have been taken.
Doredia blushes. "I am glad to be of help. Here, why don't you each have a berry? Would not want to send visitors of the esteemed Chancellor to the palace hungry." Before returning to tending her tree, Doredia hands us each a Sitrus berry.

We turn back to follow the river, leaving Doredia smiling behind. Psycho looks pleased. "Finding the palace is going to be easier than I first thought."
I chuckle. "I figured that mentioning that Chancellor guy would get us where we need. If he's in charge, then reasonably the other Pokemon here should look up to and admire him. Anyone should be glad to bring us over."
As we trace our way back to the river, Psycho nervously corrects me. Taking a bite of berry, he frowns. "Well, I don't know about him being in charge, really. You see, I did talk with the queen when she was fixing my arm up..."
Oh, that. Psycho's crush, who happens to not be a Garbodor disappointingly enough. "Yeah, her. She's a Leavanny, right? In charge of everything here, is she?" If she really is, I'm not pleased with how she runs things.
He looks over into the deep of the river. "Not really. Apparently, she's more of a... a figurehead than anything else. The two Chancellors, Peaseblossom and Beetle are the ones making decisions. According to her, Peaseblossom is getting really strict, though the details on that are vague."
This could be a problem. It obviously tends to be more difficult to reason with a strict rule-follower than one who bends the rules as needed. "Hmm. Is there anything else I need to know here?"
Shrugging, Psy finishes his berry. Mine hasn't even been touched yet. "There's some major rift between the Grass types and Bug types here. It explains the differences in the sides of the river."
He could be right. It would make enough sense that this greener area belongs to the Grass types, and the barren, cobwebby place over there is for the Bugs. I wonder if we should walk in the river, so any passing Pokemon wouldn't see us as on one side or another. Just as I realize so, something else comes to me.
"Hey," I say, "Lotus is a Grass type. You don't think that the Bugs will give him any hassle?"
Smiling a little, Psycho kicks a rock into the river. "I don't think we need to worry much about Lotus. He's one of the Five, remember? If he has to, he should be able to knock them out, even with type disadvantages. Oh!" I look up and shake myself out of my thoughts, just in time to see that we are practically at the waterfall.