Chapter Four

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...

Psycho

"...and t'ere is tat beautiful river running t'rough the middle of tah meadow, splitting it into two 'alves. Pretty, pretty river, but Mommy t'inks its kind of sad. Like, tah cliff is crying. Only it's not salty, and tears taste like salt. Blech!" Miley's speech halts for a minute as she makes a silly face I must suppose is intended as an expression of disgust.
Cygnus pulls the corners of his beak up in a smile. "Wat you talk about? Salt be nice and Dry-tasting, even as wet tears. Yum."
She only makes another face on return.
"That's nice," I start, "but why does your mother say its like a river of tears in the first place?" If there's anything I have learned so far this trip, it's that the Ducklett have a hard time staying on task and on topic. A very hard time.

Cygnus gives a shrug. "I not know. Mommy says s'e will tell us wen we be older, but not yet. It be a sad story, s'e say."

Neutrally, I accept the vague answer. If they don't know, they don't know. What I'm really stressing over, is how the other forest Pokemon will take to me. Will they give me any chance? It's one thing for two young Ducklett to accept one from the mansion. After all, to them I'm more a novelty than a threat. I'm willing to bet they've never seen a Pokemon from another region before. At the least, they haven't seen a Gallade. With the grown Pokemon, it will be a different story. For whatever reason, they have this grudge against us of the house that just doesn't go away.
Vividly, I recall one incident I had while minding my own business in the forest a year back. Now usually, forest Pokemon try to steer clear of us. Once though, a Scolipede deliberately walked in front of me, and spat on the ground as he passed by. For the most part it doesn't go that far, but they never like us much in the first place.

Without me realizing, the two have picked back up into some conversation or the other. I laugh quietly and shake my head at their antics. They squawk loudly enough on a topic I don't care to pay attention to. Almost so loudly that the rustle behind me isn't heard at all. But I do hear it. Tiredly, I turn to the source of the noise. Nothing appears in the dappled shade afforded under the trees. Maybe I'm imagining things. It's quite possible, considering my current condition. Vehemently, I wish that Full Moon had given me more time for sleep. Yet again though, the rustle comes through, nearly imperceptibly.

"Hey, can you guys be silent for a minute? I thought I heard something."
Piping down, the two tilt their heads and give me a simultaneous strange look. Slowly, I turn and inspect the area.
"Wat you be-" Miley barely begins before disaster strikes with wings of gray.
"Oh my GIRATINA!" I can't help but gasp out as a little Staravia I recognize as Cosmo bursts from the leaves above and swoops haggardly at my head. Ducking clumsily, I spin on my heels and scoop up the Ducklett with my good hand. They protest, but I don't hear. But a second later, I hear the heavy swish of steel-heavy wings where I just was. Similarly to my dream, I must run. Can't stop, can't slow, can't even look back for fears that Cosmo will catch up. As before in my dream, the blood rushing in my ears pulses the the same, insane beat that my feet stamp into the ground.

Unlike my dream, I now have the image of a glassy-eyed bird diving for me. A wild fear and rage suffuses what little in his expression could be called emotion. I have to get the Ducklett away safely, as well as myself.
Miley taps my shoulder impatiently. "Listen!"
I pay some attention to her.
"Run tat way." She motions to a thicker patch of undergrowth coming up on my left.
Since she seems to know what she's talking about, I follow her instruction.

This is the time of year where I just go ARRGGH! and feel insane. As in, I have this insane need to know why I've never gotten any comments, and I've been wanting comments for a very long time. There's only some from four people. Some on a PM (Yep, you should know if you were this person. Your feedback was much appreciated), one from James at the start, one from Cool more recently (thank you, backfire), and one on a different topic. That's it, and I'm going crazy. Just want someone, one person, to tell me something, anything. You should know that as quiet as I am in RL, I hate silence. Totally ignore this if you don't care about my mental well-being as much as the story, since I shall still write. Unless you all decide to post that this is a waste of time or something. I have rambled on (WAY) too much, so goodnight.

Hello!

I've been planning to read the whole thing, but I simply have no time because of school. I'll probably read it on holidays vacation, when I have free time. (Along with watching hundreds of documentaries.)

Edit: Ermagherd 900th post! O,O

YES! PEOPLE ACTUALLY READ THIS!
Don't mind me, this is a personal crazyness. I assure you, it's (maybe) not contagious.

I hope you do get the time to read more of it over winter break (heh). Along with the documentaries.
Nighty-night for now. The insane part of me isn't as dementedly demanding feedback anymore.

P.S. 'Grads on the post. Cool that it ended up here!
P.S.S. This bit will be quite a lot more for to read. Heh. I just hope this is somewhat good at least, but who knows?

Dasher

Dialga-darn that Darkrai. Was he trying to kill me? It sure feels like it. I'm pretty much drained of energy, and every step hurts. On the other hand, I feel guilty about complaining each time I look up to see Lotus completely conked out in Sparkle's arms, because he looks like he's got it bad. All Sparkle has told me so far, is that his legs were trapped under a tree. Oh, and that a lot more people have gotten Possessed than last time. I've forgotten who she said though, besides Psy, Bright, and I. Using that information, I know... Not much more than before. It's been picking at my curiosity what she in specific has gone through. After all, she wasn't Possessed herself, was she? I have the suspicion that Lotus might have been, but how would he have gotten unpossessed in that case?

Every time I mention my curiosity, Sparkle shrugs and looks away. The morning light may not flatter me or Lotus in our current state (the light makes Lo look paler and I can guess I only look more bedraggled), but it catches her shiny luster and holds it, fading the darkness of the scratches crisscrossing her.
"Well," I say absently, "it's quiet. Too quiet. We can talk, right?"
"I don't feel up to conversation now, Dasher." She turns as we walk and gives me a cool stare with orange eyes, something akin to an attempt at intimidation. Yeah, right. Like she could ever scare me.
"Come on. You know what I mean. What happened out there? You look like you've seen an avenging Giratina or something equally terrible. Just tell me what's wrong."
She stops walking and jerks her hand out of my grasp. Lotus curls up a little in her arms at the sudden movement. Annoyingly enough, it seems I need her to hold me up. Thus, her motion sends me sprawling on the ground.
"Oops, did that hurt?" she simmers without compassion. I grunt and peel myself from the forest floor, wiping leaves and dirt off of myself. That's just out of character for her. Her retaliations are usually limited to yelling at me, and even that is extreme compared to her usual rebuking chastisement. Now I know something's up.

Before I get another word out, she grabs my hand and brings me back to my feet. A serious look from her cuts through me. "Look, I know that you want to know what's going on, but I can't tell you. You're distracted enough already. Whatever happened previously doesn't matter right now. We have to get out of here before something gets us." Even though I have the feeling that I am dangerously pushing her limit, I stubbornly continue to inquire.
"I know that. How bad could what happened be? If this is about me not willing to share my experiences, like the nightmares, that's cool. I can tell if-"
"No, Dasher!" She grabs my arm and spins off through the forest again. I think I recognize a tree from earlier. Oh well. Physically going in circles isn't much worse than mentally doing so.
"Why?" I state.
"Because I'm sick of being out here, alone and confused! I just want to go home, where things make more sense." She looks about ready to cry, with her lip quivering and her eyes watering a little.
So of course, I have to babble on anyways. "Pfft. Lotus's riddles make more sense than what happens at the mansion."

Trembling, she stops her stiff-necked walk. "Don't talk to me about Lotus right now. If you'll get off of the subject for now, I'll make a deal."
Sounds good to me. Whatever has her spooked is playing games with my curiosity. "Fine. What's the deal?"
A bit shakily, we start walking again. I hope she makes up her mind on moving. The constant stop-go our conversation creates is exasperating. Any way, Sparkle picks up speaking once more.
"My deal is that I tell you this mildly disturbing thing later. The conditions are that we have to be safe, and alone. The other is that Psycho has to hear too, regardless of how long it takes for us to... get back together. It's only fair for him to know too. Now shut up and keep walking."
Her haste to get out is admirable and fairly understandable. I do wonder a bit at her last condition though. Why get our brother involved? He's not the sharpest sword in the armory. It must be for some sentimentalist reason. Thinking of sentimentalist, I'd like Psycho here myself. I had forgotten how annoying Sparkle is when he's not around. It's better when I have the crazy cheerful sibling to subdue her own flip-flop mentality. One sees how she snaps at me without ever-innocent Psycho to soften her attitude.

I'm not sure how much longer we wandered in silence through the shade of the trees. It may have been minutes, may have been hours before we stop - again - and Sparkle turns around, pulling me to the side with her motion. I wince as I stumble to my knees. "Sorry," she apologizes, laboriously helping me back onto my feet. "I thought I heard something."
For once, I choose not to respond. Rather than this being an action of individual character, it's because I can hear something too. The oppressive silence of the trees is shattered by a steadily growing commotion. Branches snap with growing intensity. A sharp call, high and deranged further shreds the pseudo-peace of the morning. There's a light stomping sound.
Sparkle takes on a pinched expression I take as somewhere in-between anxiety and frustration. "Not now, oh Mew not another problem."
"How do we know it's a problem?" I reply in undertone.
"Are you listening? It's getting closer." I think she's right. The noises, once faint and nearly indistinguishable have grown. And still, they get louder.
Carefully, I ask "Should we run?"
Sparkle doesn't get the chance to answer. It's too late, and we have dawdled too long in uncertainty.
Suddenly the stomping is so near as to be almost next to us. Sparkle whirls again to face the sound, and I have to follow suit to keep from falling over again. A lithe form bursts from the thick bushes just to our right. Someone screamed, a shrill, abrupt noise. Later, Sparkle would tell me that I had made the sound, but its doubtful that either of us will ever know.
In vain, the figure that leaps from the bush stumbles and tries to stop. Yet inevitably, they trip and bowl over into Sparkle and I. Sunlight that manages to slip through the gaps in the forest canopy above us illuminates their face in a dappled burst, a face I know better than most -
And then we collide. The resulting mess is best remembered by me taking an elbow to the face, all of us simultaneously falling to a heap, a distinct yell from Lotus as he must have woken up in the commotion, and several very annoying squawks. Much groans is done on all of our parts as we scramble to untangle ourselves.
"Psycho?" Sparkle asks incredulously, her eyes dropping open in shock.
"Sparkle!" Psycho yells, excitement lighting up his face.
"Dasher," I finish caustically as they forget me yet again. Now I don't wish for Psycho back as much.
For whatever reason, a couple of Ducklett lay sprawled on the ground next to Lotus, who doesn't look too happy. He weakly sits up, stretching his arms out to Sparkle. She willingly picks him up again.
Before we can get to a touchy-feelly-reunion, the forest from which Psycho just emerged lights up as a Staravia with dull eyes rips through the canopy with a blinding Steel Wing. Jumping to action right away, Psycho picks up the Ducklett and shouts to us as he passes.
"Run!"
In spite of any previous conditions of fatigue, we run.

Sparkle

Under less threatening circumstance, I am certain that I would completely question Psycho's sudden appearance, his lack of Possession, and the Ducklett. As it was, the insane Staravia crashing through the leaves behind us and shearing whole branches off of trees in a frenzy of the overused Steel Wing attack rather brutally shoved any of that out of my mind.

"We're going to die, we're going to die... a Dialga-be-darned birdy is going to kill us," Dasher mutters consistently to himself through the chase.
I hoped he was wrong as usual. If there's anything anyone doesn't want, it's to die a horrible death. With our luck, even a small Pokemon like Cosmo would deal us a terrible death under the sway of Full Moon. At the very least, Dasher would more likely than not think a death by him is worse than death from any of the Five, since we'll look a lot lamer dieing by the hands of a small avian. Even if the avian in question is taken over by an evil force. What bothers me, is why Full Moon wants to destroy me now. I had spoken to him earlier through Dasher. Surely he recognized me through Cosmo's eyes? Yet then again, it's safe to assume something has driven this Darkrai to insanity. Maybe whatever caused him to go nuts in the first place also cause him to forget our conversation. Still, I can't know anything for sure.

The only thing that could anywhere near comforting was that Psycho seemed to have some idea of where we were going. As he dashes on a few yards ahead of me, one of the Ducklett would whisper something to him every so often. After such, we would adjust our course, turning to a different direction. With hope, it was the way back to the mansion.
I refused to look back on our pursuer, as Dasher did. For one, it would slow us down. My real reason ran more along the lines of I couldn't stand to. Poor Cosmo. He wasn't a Pokemon I knew very well, but I could recall that he was pretty Bold. Once or twice, we'd spoken, and he'd been more polite than most of the other Obscures, leaving out our friendly Golly. It was bad enough hearing him shriek and crash from behind, let alone look at him in this devolved state. The forest from behind flashed in grey and white light shed of repeated Steel Wings, either so he could clear the branches in front of him, or just so he would hit us good when he managed to get close enough for a successful dive. I didn't want to actually watch him chase us, especially since the crashes kept sounding closer and closer...

"What the-" Psycho cuts off as the rough face of the cliffs emerge from the trees. Looming above as an impossible roadblock, there are only two possible directions we can go; left or right.
"Oopsie. We must 'ave guessed wrong," one Ducklett apologizes.
"SCCRWAHH!" Cosmo garbles out. Finally, I turn to see him flap out of the trees, swinging his beady eyes between the all of us. Lotus curls up tighter in my arms.
"Tat way!" one of the Ducklett yells, gesturing frantically to the right. Psycho immediately leaps in the indicated direction-
Only to have a Lucario swing out of a nearby tree to block his way.
"Roku?" Dasher gasps.
But how? Roku was at the house when I left it!
Roku turns his head to me. "Sparkle... of the House Pokemon. A little bird told me... you ran here." Cosmo has come to rest on a branch from the selfsame tree Roku had just jumped out of, siting eerily still.
Oh. I guess Full Moon hadn't forgotten our earlier meeting.
"Why would you... block my search? Paul never... he helped my search... where is he now? Where is she... for that matter?"
"Where is who?" My voice can't help but tremble a little as I speak. Psycho tears his eyes from Roku/Full Moon to give me a nervous look.
"He's talking about Moon Shadow, isn't he?"
Roku/Full Moon flicks his ears. "Where is she?"
My brother takes a step back from him. "I don't know."
With a growl, Roku/Full Moon lunges from him in a flicker of speed. The impact to too quick for the eye to follow, certainly too quick for me to go rush over and block with Protect. Psycho staggers back from the Extreme Speed noiselessly, whilst the Ducklett screech fearfully, but not in pain. For a minute, I am afraid he's been badly hurt. But it seems that Roku/Full Moon was going easy on Psy. Psycho rights himself before he could fall, catching a hold of the cliff wall and holding himself up haggardly. "I told you I don't know," he repeats.

Roku/Full Moon appears back in his original spot with fur unruffled. "You must know. Why... do you try to stop my search?" He looks ready to rush at Psycho again, when someone shouts spiritedly; "WAWAWAWA-OOOOG!"
Roku/Full Moon takes his attention off of Psycho to look back for the maker of the noise. Cosmo turns with him. "Who goes there?"

A bush which had been previously cast in shadow lights up. With no more warning than that, a Watchog bursts from it, their tail lit with the same cast of steel one sees in Spark's Iron Tail attack. "TAKE THIS!" they shout as they swing full-force at Roku. Roku/Full Moon is obviously taken by surprise. He crouches to avoid the blow, and the Watchog's tail swipe takes out a good chunk of the cliff side as it swings above him. Our strange rescuer leaps back as a couple of larger rocks fall out of the cliff's face, a few onto Roku/Full Moon himself. Though rock do little to a Steel and Fighting type anyway, how the Lucario takes them unflinchingly is still kind of spooky.
The Watchog itself looks a little surprised at Roku's hardiness. Twisting away from their opponent for a minute, they call out into the forest, "NOW!"
All of the Distortion world breaks loose as a few more Pokemon burst from the trees. A Unfezant – a male, I see by his russet head plumage – appears from a nearby tree and begins tussling mid-air with Cosmo after pushing the little Staravia off of his branch. Almost unnoticed in their commotion, a Liepard slinks from beneath a bush and dips her tail into a Low Sweep aimed at Roku/Full Moon's legs. He notices just in time to jump, but is slow enough to land unbalanced and leaning heavily to one side. His attackers have the inestimably useful advantage of surprise. Adding to the shock of it all (which could have scared me to death already), an Absol with wings steps out to watch. Their cool complatance doesn't suggest that they will be helping the battle.
With Roku/Full Moon unbalanced, it's easy enough for the Watchog to push him over and pin him to the wall. "So," they drawl gruffly, "we'll be interested in why you've come to be harassing these Pokemon. We saw it with our own eyes, and in case you don't get the idea of how upset I am at such injustice, I'm defending total strangers with the exception of the Ducklett." They gesture unhurriedly over their shoulder at us. "I heard the blue one call you Full Moon. That's funny because-" The Watchog stops abruptly when it actually looks up in his stormy eyes. Instantly, they let go and step back. "What?"

The Unfezant returns after I assume he had chased away Cosmo. I hadn't been paying as much attention to him as his Watchog buddy. Now, he and the Liepard join Watchog to surround Roku/Full Moon. "Watch out, he's D-" Watchog turns to warn the Unfezant as Roku/Full Moon strikes. He blurs to almost invisibility as he rushes out of the circle in a burst of speed. It's between Watchog and Unfezant than he jumps, and I hear a distinct screech as Unfezant falls over as if struck by lightning. "Ken!" Liepard shouts as Roku/Full Moon dashes off into the woods and vanishes. The Watchog gasps and rushes off after him, at least until mysterious winged Absol jumps in front of them and shakes their head. They turn back to the Unfezant – Ken, it seems. Liepard is already at him side, fussing over him. His wing is bend at an awkward angle, and I suspect it to be broken.

"It looks like Full Moon figured his time here would be better spent searching," Dasher comments quietly at my side. I realize with a pang, that we hadn't done anything in this battle either. Just another thing to bug me; it's probably our fault that this Unfezant is hurt in the first place.
As the other to look over Ken for other injuries, the Absol walks up to us calmly-as-you-please, and speaks. "You should be grateful for use rescuing you. And since we have had an unfortunate loss such as this, I'd think it would only be for the best that you tell us what in the Distortion world is going on," they say calmly, but with an undertone that suggests we should probably do as he says.

"An, an angel," Psycho blusters with wide eyes. Immediately afterwards, the Ducklett give pitiful squeaks as he falls over partially of shock and partially of exhaustion, into a dead faint.

Dasher

The world started to go fuzzy as soon as we had been stopped by Roku. There's a vague time where I'm sure there were someone else. Roku... He ran away, didn't he? I think he hurt someone as well, because I have the idea that there had been a scream. But in any case, I wasn't clear-headed enough to tell. My limits were all but reached at the time we stopped. Even if we had been able to keep running, I know I would have collapsed soon. After all, no one can run forever. Not even the Five.
Anyways, the last thing I could really focus on was my brother, shouting about some angel. Everything else soon melted together in a blur of light and sound. I must have fell myself then, because there was a swirl of blue, and Sparkle's voice echoed unintelligibly in my head. All the rest bended with the green and brown of the forest, and strangers voices. There was a feeling of motion, and I dully recognized that the earth under me was sliding. Was someone dragging me? Sparkle would speak sometimes, and every so often I would see a blur of white or brown or grey. Eventually, there was nothing at all.

I have no idea how much longer it was until my senses started coming back to me. Time shifted place as it always has. It was certain that I shifted place too. The area around me turned grey, and I could only guess I was in a cave. There was a muted roaring in the background, and I smelled the air. It was a sickly combination of almost every berry flavor I could think of - Bitter, Sweet, salty, Dry, you named it and it was there.
Another Pokemon was in the room too. They hovered over me, and at some point resolved to be recognizably pink and Audino. She held a neatly folded leaf with some unfamiliar mush in it's center.

"You are not putting that stuff in my mouth. No way," I tell her bluntly.
Audino gives a sweet smile. "Watch me."

She sticks the pointed tip of the leaf into my mouth and tilts it. To my disgust, the stuff drips into my mouth. For the most part, it is kind of Dry and nutty, but there is this awful hint of Sweetness and Sour tinting it. I sit up, and spit the gist of it onto the floor.
The Audino shook her head despairingly. "Tsk, tsk. Wasting good medicine. I suppose you got enough in you for now, but still." She scoops up what I spat out with the leaf, and walks out the entrance of the cave. I can't detect much out of it but sunlight, due to the angle of it. Since I am now completely awake, my surroundings are more easily noticed. I myself lay upon a pile of leaves. True to my first guess, I am in a cave. There are more leaf beds around me, and the relief is sweet when I note Psycho on the one across from mine. He sleeps soundly, with his broken arm folded protectively over his chest. On the bed to my right, is an Unfezant with a strangely bent wing. The rest of the beds are empty.

"So. It seems you 'ave finally awakened." Amusement pulls the corner of his beak up slightly. "I see you took the medicine well."
There's still a trace of the icky sweetness on my tongue, causing me to shudder. "You kidding me? That stuff was nasty! What was it?"
The Unfezant bobs his head in a shrug, causing his red plumage to swing back. "'Tis but C'esto berries mixed with Sitrus berries. The resulting mixture 'as the effect of both revival and serves as significant source of energy for whom consumes it."
"Nice to know. Too bad it doesn't get rid of hunger too. After running through the forest, I'm starving." Yet I'm not overwhelmingly exhausted as I was before. Either that medicine stuff worked really, really well, or it's been a while since I passed out.
Unfezant shakes his head and laughs. "It would 'ave filled you up as any berries would if you 'ad enoug' of it." He extends his good wing in what I take to be a welcoming gesture. "My name would be Ken'orou, but you may s'orten it to Ken. Tis w'at most do."
I nod an imitate his wing position with my own arm. Why not try to be friendly myself? "Ken it is then. My name happens to be Dasher. If you feel so inclined, you can call me Dash."
Ken raises an eyebrow at my mirroring if his posture. "Then a good day to you, Das'. You may 'ave a truly interesting stay in the 'idden Forest after all."

Joy-joy

Sinnoh As a Region, Sinnoh's Best Sights, Sinnoh Champions and Chumps; An Extended Trainer Guide, Sinnoh Culture At Its Finest. The list goes on and on. Skimming the basement bookshelf again isn't a brilliant idea, but it's better than doing nothing. After all, that's what's driving Spark nuts here; she can't do anything to help anyone. No hands, as she so conveniently said earlier. Well, now she's stuck pacing upstairs. I can understand her restlessness here.
I shift a book aside to view another's title better. Dust kicks up from the movement, creating a cloud that inevitably ends up in my face. My dust allergies kick in straightaway;
"ACH-ooo!" I sneeze. Snuffling miserably, I continue the search with renewed vigor. Lotus comes to mind with every sneeze.
Lotus looks up from the Chimcar mask he had been examining. Oh dear, he's wearing a Turtwig mask, that looks really weird. "Bless you. Did you find it?"

No Lotus, I haven't found it yet.
I know if I look for long enough, I'll find it. There'll be something that will protect us from Full Moon's powers. If there's anything I've learned from battling, it's that all opponents have a weakness, and all enemies will fall with due time. One day, I'll fall myself. And if that is certain to happen, then I'm sure that this Darkrai can be taken down too. Even if it means dealing with allergies and snooze-inducing books. Ah, here's a book we missed before; it should have something on Darkrai. Sinnoh-opsis, All the Myths and Tales of Sinnoh. With hope, it at least will be more interesting.
A soft noise, repetitive and incessant comes from somewhere down here. It echos faintly in all the corners of the basement. Everything echos vaguely in here. The source of the sound has been shifting, with the sound itself is constant since I started my search down here. Now it gets a little louder, until I realize someone is speaking. Not really speaking, I suppose, but more of a chant. Every word gets steadily louder and more pronounced. I stop my searching to listen in.
"They toook the Lotuzzz, they toook the Bright. They toook the laaady-like, they toook the knight. They toook a ballooon, they toook zzzome birdzzz, they toook the one who zzzpeak no wordzzz. Now Joooy-joy and otherzzz want their friendzzz, and the Dark Ooone zzzhall try to achieve hizzz endzzz. The Dazzzher, the Zzzparkle, and the Pzzzycho learn that while zzzecrets zzzircle juzzzt above and ooout of reach, azzzking izzz a courtezzzy breach. To live izzz to love, to lozzze izzz to learn, and wheeen the Dark'zzz heart again yearnzzz-" Queenie buzzes out from behind a stack of boxes and stops singing. "Oh, heeello Joooy. Good mooorning?"
Shrugging, I pick Sinnoh-opsis off of the shelf. For a few seconds, I hold my breath as the dust floats by, to refrain from sneezing yet again. Once that passes, I give my reply. "It's the afternoon now, Queenie."
She doesn't look very surprised by that. "Time gooo too fazzzt for pooor Queenie. It gooo to zzzlow for pooor Joy."
"I suppose so. Queenie, what was it you where singing about? It sounded nice." Well, it had rhymed well, in spite of the chainsaw buzzing and the fact that it sounded something along the lines that she was declaring doom or something.
"It wazzz a zzzong."
"I'd guessed so."
She clacks her mandibles and pulls them apart in a smile. "It izzz a zzzong of thingzzz that are. It'zzz a niiice zzzong, if you know hooow it eeendzzz."
I'm not really sure what she means by this. Queenie is a Quirky as Lotus, and makes half the sense. "How does it end, Queenie?"
Dropping the smile, she points up. "Not liiike that."
I flinch a little when someone yells from upstairs. There are some particularly alarming crashing sounds, and well as a squeal. "NO YOU DON'T! STOP IT TWIRLA!" is shouted in your typical Spark-fashion. Something has happened, blatantly enough. Sighing, I drop the books and run back up the stairs. Flinging open the basement door, I am greeted with a sight that I didn't expect, yet certainly fits in with the previous sounds. Why does that happen so often of late?

Spark is shivering a little, and look pretty scared. No surprise, considering that she is hanging by her tail from the chandelier. The chandelier in itself swings from side to side, and is missing most of the small crystals that used to hang from it. They litter the floor in many fragments. Just another thing I'll have to pay for later. Not only that, but much of the furniture has been knocked asides. I can see an indent in the side of the coffee table, which is clear across the room and splayed against the wall. Lopy is curled up in a corner, not paying attention to the scene since she has completely retreated within her ears. Rascal stands off to one side, flabbergasted and open-beaked.
And in the center of the crazyness is Twirla. There she stands, staring somewhat dreamily up at Spark. Spark, in turn, is giving her a murderous look.
"If you weren't my best friend, I'd wring your neck for this."
Twirla smiles. "I wouldn't have done it if you weren't my best friend. You were sneaking off, and I can't let you go out and get yourself killed. You saw firsthand how strong Bright was under the influence of Full Moon. Going after both him, and Lotus, is like jumping into a pool of Sharpedo with a sign that says 'Eat me!' "
Spark shifts forward a little and peers down over the edge of the chandelier. You know, I had never known that I would be able to hold her weight. "At least, I wouldn't be stuck up in this high place." In a smaller voice I don't hear much from her, Spark whispers, "And you know how much I hate heights like this."

This could go on for a while, so I think it would be best to step in here. "A-hem," I clear my throat a little to gather their attention as I step out from the basement doorway. Twirla spins to face me, suddenly looking a little embarrassed. Spark's eyes rove tiredly over in my general direction, but not directly at me.
"Oh dear," Rascal grunts, laboriously coming out from behind a chair that he must have been using for cover, "Lets just get this over with."

Sparkle

I refuse to say anything about what we were doing way out in the forest when they found us in the first place, the whole way to wherever these Pokemon are taking me. "Not until my brothers and Lotus get some medical attention," I insist to the Absol for what must be the eighth time.
"I assure you, they will get treated. We have our own to heal thanks to this battle. Consider now that it is of paramount importance that you tell me what is going on." At this point, his wings have receded, and he looks like any other Absol. The Ducklett giggle to themselves as they bounce up and down on his back. Ahead of us, is the Watchog dragging Dasher, the Liepard with Psycho draped on her back, and the Unfezant keeping pace in spite of his injured wing. I still carry Lotus in my arms, partially because no one else is free to, and partially because I won't trust him to anyone else. It's hard letting these strangers touch my brothers as well.

"You aren't responding to me. Fair lady, I beg you tell us what is going on. Again I say that your siblings and friend will be just fine." He is starting to look pretty worried now.
"And I'm telling you that I'm not going to do anything for you until they are already healed. First off, I will need their help to explain this mess to you, and the second is that I have something I need to take care of. I might as well tell you while I'm at it, that Lotus is a relative too, and not a friend." Honestly, I have no idea what I should consider Lotus right now. "Friend" doesn't quite feel right.

The Absol looks a little confused at this proclamation, but keeps any thoughts to himself. Relief washes his face as a barrier of thorns comes up ahead. It replaces the cliff side before us, and there's a large empty space between it and the cliffs, which are sharply indented here. Above the wall of thorns, a waterfall coming off of the top of the cliffs is visible, as well as the tops of a few trees.
"Briers, I command thee now to allow us passage." The Absol roars to the thorns. I almost snort to myself. What is he going to do about it? Call for the thorns to move aside for him?
It surprises me a minute later when the thorns really do move. A pair of Ferrothorn emerge from the prickles and brush them aside for us. "And I meet thee with open arms, Montolio Battlemaster," the one on the left creaks out gravelly. The Absol - Montolio? - dips his head curtly and motions to the Watchog. They nod back and step forward.
"Go with Kleoparda and take those two to the infirmary. Ken'orou as well."
The Unfezant comes forth and begins a protest. "But master-"
"No buts about it," Montolio answers. "Shake those tail feathers and head over. You need to heal."
Ken swallows and looks at the ground. "Tabunne is rather intimidating..."
"Are you a paladin or a laying hen? Do as you are told boy!"
Ken makes an effort to stand taller and shakes his head plumes. "Yes master."
Along with the Liepard, Watchog, and my brothers, they head through the thorns.
I make a motion to follow them, but Montolio steps in front of me. "Not so fast now, lady of the House Pokemon."
"My brothers-"
"Will be fine. I ask you to follow me."
It seems more like an order than asking, but I decide not to question it. I was in different territory than before, and this was a new game with different rules than the ones I had played before. Clearly I needed to learn this game, and I could already see that Montolio was a very high-ranking Pokemon here.

Once I stepped within the thorn barrier, I couldn't help but stare at the world around me. It was, almost like walking into another planet. Perhaps it wasn't quite that alien though.
From the waterfall ran a river that split the whole of the area into two halves. The river itself ended in a small cave in the cliff wall, draining down to who-knows where. I wondered where it went. For that matter, I wondered where the water came from in the first place.
More shocking was how different the forest was on either side. The side that I had come out on was thick with greener-than-green grass, flowers, shrubs, all manner of plants. Trees of all different kinds sprang up here and there. To the side, where the forest ended at the cliff, bushes of berries grew.
The opposite side of the river couldn't get much more different. Little grass grew anywhere, and what did was very dark green and spiked. On the other hand, much of the ground was covered by trees with broad leaves darker than even the grass. Cobwebs wove in and out of the bracken.
The Pokemon on both sides were different too. I see mainly grass types on the greener side, and bug types on the barren side. Neutral types stay on either of the sides, along with Sewaddle.
I am given only a few minutes to gawk at the unfamiliar scene before me until I notice an Audino walk up to me.
"Miss, if you please, I must be taking him to the infirmary right now." She points to Lotus shyly.
Some part of me sighs in relief. I have been carrying Lotus for a long time, and he's not that lightweight. More important, he really is starting to look bad now. His breath rattled a little in his throat, which kind if scares me.
"Here," I whisper, "but I'd like to know why Montolio won't let me see my brothers. They're in the infirmary too."
The Audino quietly slips Lotus from my arms to her own. "I wouldn't know. I just follow orders. At least, I can say that they are in good hands." Cradling him carefully, she walks off.

My attention returns to Montolio after this has been done. He stands there quite pleased, with a couple of Scolipede I didn't see before.
"I am terribly sorry about this, fair lady," Montolio quips cheerfully.
"What are you-" I cut off as the Scolipede surround me on both sides. At first, this seems a weak attempt to trap me, since there are only a singular Scolipede on either side. Being a Gardevoir, I'm lean enough to slip through the front or back gap with ease. That is, until the same Ferrothorn from earlier position themselves at the front and back if the procession, cutting off any escape.
"Allow us to escort you to the Cavern Palace," says Montolio grandly.
I'm not feeling so grand myself. First off, I don't see a palace anywhere around here. Second, I feel as if I am being "escorted" as a prisoner.
We walk the ways downstream to the waterfall, with many eyes watching. The first Ferrothorn as well as the Scolipede walk right in to the waterfall without any hesitation once we get there. I stall a little, reluctant to just walk through a wall of cascading water, but the Ferrothorn behind me pokes my back with on of what I guess are legs.
"Keep moving," they grunt.
Montolio watches from the side rather neutrally. Gracefully, he slides through the water and to the other side. I can only assume there is a cave behind the water, which is probably the Cavern Palace previously spoken of.
Taking a deep breath, I prepare to enter a world that is even less like the mansion than what I've already seen.

I apologize for being so late in getting this next part out! Finals were this week, and they severely derailed progress on personal projects such as this. On the other hand, I noticed that-
EDIT: Yeah, yeah. I was kind of a jerk here. Just, forget me and keep reading...


Psycho

"Psyyyyyy-cho. Psycho. Psy! Psycho. Wake. Up. Wake up, you Dialga-be-darned sleepy head." Someone pokes my side, most likely the same person nagging me.
"WAKE UP."
When I make no response - I am exhausted - they take my shoulders and shake me rapidly.
"Gah!" I gasp out as I open my eyes and sit up, bonking my head with the selfsame person. "Ouch," they react quietly, rubbing their head. It's my brother towering over me, looking relievingly perturbed as is common of him.
"Dasher!" We never got the chance to be properly reunited back in the forest, so I give him a big hug. Almost. I stop both at the slight pain in my injured arm, and the "Oh-please-don't-touch-me," look on his face. Huh, speaking of my arm, it is wrapped in a leaf bandage like Matrifol did yesterday. Good, because the cloth one Joy put on yesterday had gotten soaked, scratched, dusty, and all sorts of nastiness. I wonder what the forest Pokemon did with it.
"Have a nice nap?" Dasher asks casually, backing away from me to lean against the opposite wall of rock. Wait, we're in a cave? Isn't this an ironically familiar situation. Except, there's no Leavanny this time. Oh, but there's an Unfezant sitting besides Dasher.
I sit up in alarm. Suddenly, the battle with Roku comes back to me, short as it was. "Where's Sparkle? Where is the angel? Where are we, for that matter?"
The Unfezant speaks up. "Angel?"
"Yes, the one with wings."
Dasher snorts. "'One with wings'. So descriptive." He kicks some leaves out from under him - they seem to make beds - and flops down.
With a weak gesture, Unfezant speaks. "You must be speaking of Master Montolio. 'e is one of the greatest warriors the 'idden Forest 'as ever seen." Pride touches his voice. "And, one of t'e greatest teac'ers."
That's nice enough I suppose. Vaguely though, I suspect that since Lotus must be here, he is currently the greatest- great Giratina, Lotus isn't here either. Where are they?
"Where are Sparkle and Lotus though? Again, where are we?"
Unfezant fluffs his feathers and starts preening. "We are in a small, enclosed area 'idden from the outside world known for obvious reasons as t'e 'hidden Forest. As to your friends, I 'ave little idea w'ere t'ey took t'em. T'e flower-one is probably in t'e emergency section of our infirmary, close to w'ere we are currently. If I 'ave to guess as to the blue one, s'e is more likely than not being interrogated."
That completely shakes me from la-la land. "Interrogated?" Dasher squeaks miserably, "what ever for, Ken?"
Ken, apparently, starts to look a little uncomfortable. He stops preening and looks up at Dasher.
"It's simple enoug' reasoning, from our side. S'e was in t'e forest by our territory wit' a strange group of Pokemon. C'ased by some Darkened as well, an... unusual occurrence. On t'e way back 'ere, s'e refused to tell us w'at the situation was so... I would say t'at t'e C'ancellor would be trying to find out around now."

"Interrogation sounds like it could be painful." I swallow air blandly. Well, never mind bland, this air has lots of flavor to it. Dialga-darn-it all! This isn't good. We're out of the forest, and the danger should be gone now. Instead, I have a whole new worry in the form of my sister. Sparkle isn't strong in the first place, similarly to me and Dasher. After what has happened already, she should be mentally exhausted as well as physically. I don't know what goes on during "interrogation", but Sparkle can't possibly be strong enough to stand up to it.
It's not fair.

Dasher paces the small confines of the room as Ken looks anxiously between the two of us. With a snap of his hand, Dasher smiles. "I know what to do. It's simple enough; just head over to wherever they have Sparkle and tell them all about the Possession-"
"They call it being Darkened here," I add in.
"Possessed, Darkened, whatever. Anyways, we just explain what happened, they release Sparkle, and we ask for directions home. Simple enough." A satisfied smile creeps onto Dasher's face.
Dryly, Ken sighs. "In retrospect, it seems simple. Consider that you don't know w'ere we 'ave 'er 'oled up in t'e first place. And t'en, 'ow are you going to get past Tabunne?"
"Tabunne?" I ask.
Ken picks himself up, and creeps to the entrance of the cave. He looks out cautiously. "S'e is t'e Audino in c'arge of t'e infirmary."
"The scary one who shoved the gross medicine in my mouth?" Dasher reiterates.
With all due caution, Ken backs away from the door. "T'at would be t'e one. S'e doesn't like me since s'e sees me in 'ere so often. S'e likes 'er patients to stay 'ealed, w'ile I tend to get 'urt all over again."
"Oh." Dasher doesn't look very concerned. "I guess we had better go quickly Psy, before she comes back."

So of course a pink shadow has to blot out the sunlight in the doorway. "'Tis as I supposed then. You would be planning an escape." An Audino whom I presume to be Tabunne walks in and gives Dasher a suspicious look.
"Who, me?" Dasher exclaims innocently. "I'm not doing anything of the sort."

She snorts softly and rolls her overly blue eyes. "I heard that you have a good enough reason. So, this time I shall let you take an easy leave. After all, I don't want to have to fix up your sister either. Ohrdoch met her earlier and said she seemed to be the good type." At this she points to me. "But first, he needs to get some medicine himself. I can't let you go without it. 'Tis not proper care of my patients, letting them wander off unhealed, you see."
Dasher and I share a look. Clearly, he was surprised that we were getting off so easy. The next thing I could tell is that he would be more relieved if I got the medical attention before we left anyway. He wouldn't admit it aloud, but I could tell in the slight worry creasing the corner of his mouth.
"Sure," I agree. Tabunne nods curtly and holds out a leaf full of mush. It doesn't look very appetizing, but if it helps me heal, it helps me heal. I take it from her and pour the stuff in my mouth. Hmm. Actually, it's not bad. A little too Dry and not Sweet enough, but it works. Sparkle would probably love the stuff. I feel somewhat better after having it.
"Ok, we're good, lets go." Dasher grabs me by the arm and pulls me out of the cave hurriedly. Ken scurries to follow us, but Tabunne blocks his way. "You aren't going anywhere, young sir!"
Ken stands there, opening and closing his beak as if to say something, as Tabunne chews him out about how his broken wing is still in a very delicate part of the healing process, and how he needs to lay down for a good few days. He mouths to us "Don't leave me with her!" or that's what it looked like he was trying to say, anyways. Dasher shakes his head and mouths "Sorry!" back. I rather agree with Dasher; Tabunne is not a Pokemon to be tangled with. "Sorry" isn't a strong enough term for poor Ken faced with her challenging figure.
Then, Dasher turns to face the woods behind us, pulling me with him. We walk a good distance from the cave they call the infirmary. We come across an interesting landmark as we go on. There's a river connected to a waterfall that makes a slight crashing noise. On either side of it, the land is as different as can be. We are on a more greeny-plant-covered side.
"Where do we go now?" I ask Dasher.
Dropping my hand, he shrugs. "I don't know."
He take a few step forward and surveys the area. After turning back to me he smiles.
"Let's go ask for directions."

Joy-joy

Twirla carefully uses her Psychic to lower a slightly-freaking-out Spark from the chandelier. Once back on solid ground, Spark shivers and curls up, glaring at Twirla the whole time. If looks could kill, everyone in the room would have died a long time ago. It's a very good thing that Spark has X-ray vision, and not laser vision.
"I'm still not clear why you did that in the first place," I scold Twirla sternly. Spark did have a right to be upset, as far as I could tell. Typically, we don't fling people onto chandeliers here.
Twirla has lost the detached gaze she wore when talking to Spark earlier. Her eyes are wide and staring, like Lotus's usually are. Giratina, I'd better stop thinking of Lotus. Anyway, Twirla starts to speak to me. "Spark was slinking as if she thought she was being sneaky towards the broken window. The look on her face gave it away too. I figured that she was going after Bright and Lotus, and I calculated that going into that forest and searching them out was an effective way to unintentionally commit suicide, so I stopped her."
Spark flicks her tail, which flashes gold in the sunlight and blinds me for a second. "Couldn't you have found some other way to stop me? Besides stringing me from the poor chandelier, that is," Spark grumbles.
Twirla looks almost amused for a minute. "So you say. You were the one who panicked and started trying Iron Tail me so you could get away with it." Hence the broken, out-of-place furniture. "It was the easiest way to keep you from getting away and not getting hit myself. You know, you really can be a poor battler without Joy-joy directing you. And as to the chandelier thing again..." She hesitates a little in her speech.
"I'm perfectly willing to do it again if you try to sneak off."

Muttering to herself and rolling her eyes, Spark jumps to her feet and stomps over to Rascal, who has remained perfectly neutral throughout the conversation.
"Don't you think we should go out there and do something?" she pleads pathetically.
"What would we do?" he replies.
Spark us starting to look really frustrated. I can see her jaw work from side to side as she grinds her teeth. "I don't know. Just..."
With a heavy sigh, Twirla runs her hand through her hair. "That's your big problem Spark. You don't have a plan."
"What would you know!" Spark snaps, whirling to fade Twirla. Her mane stands up on end, crackling with a sudden influx of electricity. "You're the one who's convinced that I can't take care of myself out there."
This is getting serious. What really scares me, is that I have absolutely no idea how to stop their fighting. Minor squabbles, I can deal with, but none of the Five have ever been at odds with each other at such a magnitude since they were unevolved battle novices. And even then, it was always just someone irritated by Lotus.
Lowering her head so that her eyes are cast in shadow, Twirla responds to Spark in a way that I never expected.
"You've never thought that Sparkle would survive, did you?" One sentence implies much. It says loud and clear that Twirla knows of Spark's heavily veiled opinion of her adopted children. It also says that Twirla was utterly convinced that Spark couldn't survive out by herself in the Forest, unconsciously lowering her to the level of Sparkle.
The effect is immediate. Spark bristles, her mane spitting flecks of electric current. "This isn't about Shiny Object. This is about your overprotection. I just want to try to help the others in the forest, while everyone else cowers in this Diagla-be-darned house! Besides Twirla," her eyes narrow coolly here, "you may have the most family out there, but you're not the only one with family out there. Ro- I mean, really, Lotus and Bright are my brothers too."
It was the final straw that broke the Camrupt's back. The catfight that ensued started with the small, black orb that formed in Twirla's hands. It abruptly lights up the dim living room in an unnatural shade of purple before Twirla pulses it out in Sparks general direction. Spark only ducked just in time, and it hit the wall behind her, causing major cracking. Plaster flew loose, and dust settled over the area. I sneezed. At the same time, I realize how dangerous this had got. If we were talking about a normal battle indoors, it might just knock over some furniture.

But this was the Five we were talking about.

Twirla's Shadow Ball was tiny. It was just a fraction of her power. And it still almost destroyed a wall. She could tear apart this mansion with ease. I knew better than any the power she or any of the Five had. Clenching my hands tightly, I knew needed - and wondered how - I had to stop this right away. After all, I was the trainer. I was supposed to know how to keep my Pokemon from going too far.
Spark had no qualms about holding back herself. With a roar, she leaped into the air and hardened her tail. It glowed silver in the light, and Spark was about to smash down into Twirla. Twirla flipped her hand out in a lazy manner. A Psychic halted Spark midair, and sent a pink light pulsing throughout the room.
Since everything seemed to come to a temporary standstill, I thought I would be able to convince them to stop fighting. So I stepped forward like the idiot I was and almost got to speak before Spark figured out a way out of the Psychic.
Psychic only paralyzes the major muscles in control of limbs. It leaves smaller muscles alone. Smaller muscles like the twitchy ones that generate electricity throughout a Luxray's body.
Tendrils of blue lightning exploded from Spark, lighting up the room much more than the Psychic. A yell tore from me as a stray bolt slammed into my side. Twirla took the brunt of the Thunder, releasing Spark in both surprise and recoil.

Lying prone on the floor, I shuddered as the remaining current flickers painfully throughout me. Muscles lock up. Suddenly, I find that I can't move. As an expert Pokemon trainer, the cause is more than obvious; I have been Paralyzed.
For whatever reason, I note that the carpet smells a little funky. Sometime after I stop having to worry about Possession and major emotional rifts between everyone on the mansion, we need to get it cleaned. That is, after we rebuild what's left of this place.

Spark and Twirla circle each other wearily. Just as both prepare another attack, and I estimate the worst, something flashes brightly. The light is blinding, and I can hear Twirla and Spark exclaim as they too can't see. A gushing sound, followed by muffled clinks punctuates and increases their shouts.

Suddenly, the noise stops. I blink in the silence, and my vision clears a little.

A blurry black shape I take to be Rascal looms darkly in the middle of the room. As my vision returns, I can note the somberness in his expression. To his right is Spark, and his left is Twirla. Both are encased liberally in ice.
It comes to me what must have happened. Rascal must have Flashed himself, and then struck each of them with an Icebeam. Brutal, effective, the method makes quick work if the opponent doesn't see it coming. Exactly as I taught him.

My old Empoleon friend looks between the frozen two with a frightening intensity.
"I am equally disappointed with both of you."

...I have no excuse. Sorry.

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.

"That's a lot if water," Psycho remarks dumbly. It sure is, pounding the rocks below with a crash that I'm surprised that I didn't notice as much earlier. A small amount of must creates an half-rainbow at the base. We're supposed to walk through that? The water comes down pretty harshly. I can imagine it knocking me down, into the river. Memories of my previous nightmare give me the idea that falling into a deeper river like this would be a very bad experience.

Psycho sighs, and steps into the water.
"We should probably get going into the palace now."

I can't help but agree. The sooner we get in there, the sooner we can find Sparkle and leave this crazy place behind...
Even if what we leave behind here is debatable as to being worse than what we left in the first place.

It's been quiet. Too quiet.
Speaking of Quiet, here's someone you might not have expected to speak up!


Rascal

"Golly," I say.
Her attention snaps up from prone Joy-joy, propped up on the couch. Sweet Joy-joy, the one who hates infighting as much as she loved battles. Pain, not physical, but mental, is still written on her face. Even Paralyzed and unconscious, the battle between Spark and Twirla utterly hurts her.
"Golly," I echo, "I feel the need to talk. You know well enough that speaking is not something commonly I do, but I need to talk to someone."
A brisk nod is her only and first response before the speechless Gothitelle goes back to spoon-feeding Joy a mash of berries to cure the Paralysis. Both the healer and the patient look pitiful and bedraggled. It can't be blamed on either of them.
"Twirla and Spark are locked in the basement together until they make up with each other, on pain of getting frozen again. Lopy has gone upstairs and curled up on her bed, refusing to respond to anyone or anything. Dear Lotus is Possessed out there, and I wish he was here even though nothing he would do would help in the least. The most reliable three we have - Bright, Roku, Gallant, - all share his fate. Gli, Cosmo, Gust, the only Flying Types we have at the mansion besides Queenie are taken. A Flying type would be very useful in these times, even one as Quirky as our Vespiquen friend. And even she hasn't been seen since Spark practically blasted this place apart. I theorize that she got hit by the Thunder, but I can't say what happened to her afterwards."
Unbidden, a curse comes to my beak. Twirla would be upset to hear it, though her ethical conscious isn't main concern right now. "Giratina! Even Dasher with his smart-mouth smack would be welcome. Or his brother, who can't seem to focus on anything important for more than three seconds. Dialga-be-darned, even Sparkle succombed to the madness that has overtaken this place, chasing brainlessly after her brothers like that! We almost lost Spark to the same fate. Any of the other Obscures in this place have retreated, and I can't be bothered to remember who they are anyway. This leave exactly three reliable ones left."
Harshly, I suck in my breath. Talking never was an effort for me, but I am not quite used to doing to for so long without it becoming a rant. Well, a rant less-gentle than this one.
"It is just you. And me. And Joy-joy."
Golly turns those wide, blue eyes back to me. Her focus still remains on Joy, but her gaze may drift freely.
"A very, very old Empoleon, a Gothitelle who knows more about Poffins than type advantages, and a trainer who is nothing without her Pokemon. With all respect due to our kind Joy-joy, she has no talents outside of Pokemon battling. Really, to be honest, she couldn't even reign in her own Pokemon when they almost destroyed this place." We both glance up at what is left of the roof at this husky-voiced statement. What is left of the room, for that matter. Charred. Dented. Disordered. Any other of the Obscures have completely abandoned this side of the house. No wonder, with half of the roof gone. I'm surprised that Dialga-be-darned chandelier still sticks to the roof
I dislike it, but Golly is partially right. Like most any Obscure, she know nothing about battling. But as to her comment about my age, or Joy's lack of talents- "Joy cannot be only good at battling. No-one I have ever known is that mono-talented, and I have lived for much longer than anyone else here."
A small scoff escapes Golly. "Rascal, you're the one who has lived with her forever and ever. You must have heard her sing. Last time I did, it left Spark on the floor, covering her ears. It left pretty much everyone else the same way too, I remember."
"Perhaps you are right. Even so, singing is not going to help with anything right now anyways." I shift in the armchair that we dragged over back to the center of the room, along with the couch earlier. "Don't discount her abilities in this, limited as they may be. After all, she is only human, and humans have very useless physical capabilities. She makes up mentally in what she lacks otherwise."
Golly finishes giving dear Joy-joy the last of the berry concoction. Cherri berries, I remember vaguely, it is Cherri berries that cure Paralysis. This is something Lotus would never remember, I recollect. Dialga-darn-it, how does he make mischief even when absent?

"I wonder... I wonder why humans are so fragile." Golly speaks in hushed tones very out-of-character from the animated chatter she usually gave out. "How come they break so easy? It's not just their bodies - it's their minds to. I saw how her face seemed to shatter with that last fight. Why?"
We stare at Joy in silence, as if something will magically answer the question. There's an unspoken second question hanging in the air like a morning mist. How did such fragile creatures ever become supposedly dominant over Pokemon? One of the many things no-one can ever answer.
And thinking of things gone unanswered, I must to myself, We really must find out what is going on around here. This place is rife with mysteries that would do better in daylight instead of demon darkness, I feel.
"Excuse me?" Golly speaks up as she comes back from bending over and glides back into the kitchen to put away the dishes. Her hurrying nervousness invites me to follow along. At the same time, I realize that my thoughts had been spoken aloud.
"Nothing, dear Golly. Only a thought that we seem to be hiding things more nowadays. Now, not literally," I correct, as she starts to protest in confusion, "but things hidden from each other. Spark has never been good at keeping things to herself, and from her past behavior, I think that is what is is trying to do." My limbs creak uncomfortably as we walk. "I can feel a battle deep in my bones. For who, and for what reason, that isn't known. But there is a big one coming. I pray it won't involve anyone from this mansion."
"Oh." The one-worded response is a little sad. I feel almost sorry for the poor thing. She never asked to get involved in this. None of us had asked.
"You know," I comfort her softly, "I had not ever bothered to remember your name before this started. It's true. Now, I know not only your name, but that you are a Mew's worth more reliable that I could have ever known. You are a good person- err, Pokemon, Golly."
She smiles a little, a shy smile that reminds me of dear Twirla when she is in a good mood. It is sunny, and seems to light up the corridor just a little. "Coming from one of the Five like you, that is a really big compliment."
"Yes," I say gruffly, "I may be old, but I am a strong member of the Five." Yes, pride got the better of me there. Her earlier comment on me being elderly still stung.
We arrive at the kitchen, and set up to working in silence. Golly washes the small bowl of the remaining Cherri solution, and I scrounge around for Oran berries. Dismayingly, we seem to have used the last ones up on Roku, Spark, and Psycho yesterday. Yesterday. Had it only been that long?
Someone wails from the living room. The both of us instantly drop what we are doing and scurry back down the kitchen corridor. By the time we get there, countless scenarios of anything, anything at all happening to dear Joy-joy have run through my head. One of the Possessed could have found her, Spark and Twirla could have broken out of the basement and started fighting again, anything.
Only, there's just one figure besides Joy in the living room when we arrive back. A hunched figure, sitting on the ground and sobbing wetly. A familiar figure. Loppily.
She turns at our approach, before setting back down into herself. Those giant ears encompass most of her, but not enough to block out noise from either her or us.
Both surprising, and not that shockingly, Golly glides over immediately to comfort her. Hushing Lopy, and coaxing, Golly manages to calm her down some. We wrestle to get a comprehendible story out of her.
"I'm- sorry." Small gasps breaks Lopy's statements into fragments. "I just- Bright said- I forsook his promise!" Something seems to be clutched in her hands, and she thrusts it out at me. The object is recognizable immediately; it is that Expert Belt Bright always wears as a sash around his head. I haven't seem Bright without that Belt for years and years. Not since we left Sinnoh. Lopy gave it to him a while back.
"I found it- in the backyard! I almost left, trying to go after him, but I was too scared. The belt- I thought-" She bursts into tears again.
Something in me decides that this is enough. I know nothing about this Darkrai, and this Full Moon knows everything about us. If dubious, earlier mutterings from Spark about him wanting to destroy us as well as being able to read the minds of the Possessed are anything near truth, then he knows how to break us down. I doubt Spark's theory, but I know that Bright discarding that Belt has scared Lopy out of her mind. Bright would never abandon that Belt, because he promised not to, and he never breaks a promise. This Darkrai has absolute control over Bright, whether he was intentionally flaunting it or not.
Another small thought comes to mind. Hadn't someone said something about Psycho fighting off Possession? It is discarded immediately. That just isn't relevant right now.

I take Lopy's hand and pull her to her feet. She looks surprised at me, and a little confused. On the other hand, I see a glimmer of hope come back to her eyes. No-one had bothered to reach out to her pain until now. Fools! We were too wrapped up in our own fear to see the other's. That's why Spark and Twirla got so upset at each other. Neither would care about the other's point of view.
And now, I can see a small plan form in my head. We should have bothered to care and worry for those right here as well as those Possessed much, much earlier. Perhaps this half-solution could have been formed by then, and have kept us from tearing each other apart like we have as of late.

Hello everyone! I know that I have been Missing In Action for the most part lately for Forest of Secrets, and I am really sorry. There have been some problems with things getting deleted lately (i.e, my White 2 Game, the actual Psycho and Dasher in said game, etc.) More relevantly, I have accidentally deleted no less than two emails of this same section of Sparkle that I mailed to myself. Talk about messing up! I lost motivation for a little while, but I'm back! So, here is this long-awaited section.
*Cackles wickedly*

Sparkle

The darkness here is so thick that I can almost feel it pressing against my skin. A singular ray of sunshine falls down from a small hole in the cave wall, illuminating only my face and the occasional patch of rock. It's heat is warm and especially welcome what with the cool column of rock my back is pressed up against. Sturdy vines hold me against the stalactite-stalagmite fusion, preventing any escape, or even the thought of getting away.
Standing on a small chunk of rock next to me, is the outline of some Pokemon I am unable to identify in this dark. I only know his name - Chancellor Peaseblossom - through the one sentence Montolio spoke to him after ushering me in. Though I can't see, I have the feeling that the Absol is still lingering in the room.
Peaseblossom stands stately from atop the boulder that makes him what I assume to be face-level with me. A slight smell wafts off of him, sickly Sweet and all the worse for how intense it is. If it was less overpowering, maybe I could stand it. Sadly, the scent only gets stronger as Peaseblossom seems to lean in closer. I can feel his breath on my shoulder.

"I will ask you only one more time, Sparkle of the Mansion. What were you doing so deep in the forest? So near the Hidden Woods? We cannot allow trainers here, nor their Pokemon." A sneer pervades his tone. I have to bite my tongue to keep from answering back in a similar manner. If only I hadn't told him where I was from, then he might not be so bitter. This Peaseblossom is striking me as the sort to call us under Joy's care "Tamed Ones" and dislike us extraordinarily.
"I wasn't here under Joy's orders," I say, "I didn't even mean to be here in the first place."
Peaseblossom sniffs indignantly. "Do not give me falsifications! Tell me what in specific brings you here. I do not care about your trainer, particularly if she is the sort to leave you injured and alone in the forest like you were. Tell me what disaster you were running from. If there is something out there that could threaten the safety of the Hidden Woods, I must know! I have my suspicions already, yet..." A shadow-shrouded limb tentatively presses against my cheek. The touch is gentle at first, with more and more pressure slowly applied. I try not to wince as my back horn grinds into the stone column, sending weak waves of mental pain running multicolored spots through my limited vision.
I do yelp when a small jolt of electricity pulses through my head from his touch. He pulls his hand away immediately. Somehow, I sense satisfaction.
"What the Giratina was that?" I squeak out. "I thought you were probably Grass type!"
"I am." Peaseblossom shifts over so that his face catches in a meager pool of light. "It is called Effect Spore, you know. The ability could have very well sent you to sleep, paralyzed you, or even badly poisoned you had I kept my hand on."
Some deranged part of me almost giggles when he reveals himself. "You're just a Vileplume!"
"And you," he starts callously, "have a skin problem, do you not? What a rare genetic mutation."
Heat rises to my cheeks a little at the comment. I fight a little to stay calm. This Chancellor is infuriating, but I have my own cause to plead. If I lash out at him, he is less likely to take me seriously in anything I say.
"Shiny is not a skin problem," I state levelly. Alright, even if I know I need to be calm and polite, I have really reached my limit today. Though being shiny isn't too sensitive a subject for me, stress multiplies little things out of proportion.
"What nice self confidence," Peaseblossom drawls disinterestedly. "Now, are you going to tell me anything?"
I pretend to consider it for a moment. Am I really going to do as this guy says? The guy who locked me in here in the first place, and is consistently threatening me in numerous subtle ways? Of course not. Not directly, anyway.
"I have a deal to offer," I tell him. Let's see how he takes this.
His stoic features accept an expression of amusement. "You are in no position to bargain with me. This is my domain, with my rules."
Forcing a laugh, I reply, "Hear me out! I will tell you everything you want to know if only you will let me see my brothers. Better yet, let them help me explain the situation to you! I promise you will get to learn everything you need to know."
"Let me see..." he ponders. "No. They are none of concern, and 'tis better if you just out any tell me what is going on."
Better for who? I wonder. This guy seems to be acting this way just to shake me up. What other reason could he have for denying me? He looks determined to force me to talk against my will.
Since pleading my cause is not going to work here, I decide that there is little other choice; I am determined not to be bullied into talking, so I must give Peaseblossom little other choice than letting me see Psycho and Dasher. I have to be as annoying and useless as possible.
"May Dialga speed on your death," I spit out, "Palkia have it happen in the worst possible place, and Giratina take your soul." This particular insult is one that Spark once used against Dasher when she was really ticked with him regarding repeated refusal to train. Most eloquent insult I have ever heard.
The Chancellor bristles, to my pleasure. "Was that a threat? I could keep you here for a very long time to punish you as such. 'Tis no small thing, to threaten me."
A small smirk works its way onto my face. "Threaten you? No, I'm just using the long way to say, 'go to the Distortion world'." It feels goo,d to tell him this. I am starting to understand why Dasher thinks it so fun to repeatedly insult people. Now if only Psycho and I weren't usually the target of the comebacks...
Certainly, Peaseblossom is really ticked by now. He may have withdrawn from the small bit of light, but that doesn't stop his outline from shaking in anger. A silence stretches for a few-minute span. When he does start to move again, I am almost afraid he is going to slap me.

What actually happens, is that the Chancellor looks in the direction of the dark, narrow corridor leading to the chamber we are in. A small light pervades the entryway, along with some scraping sounds and muttering. Soon after, a small Ferroseed rolls in, lit up in brightness I can only assume to be Flash. I finally get a good look at my surroundings. It is disappointingly just an empty cave like any other, minus the less-than surprising fact that Montolio is sitting calm-as-you-please in a corner of the room. There is something scrutinizing in the way he looks at me.
"Yes, Grindur," Peaseblossom sighs, "what is it now?"
"A complication," Grindur the Ferroseed squeaks. "I should just let Nattorei explain."
They roll to the side of the doorway. A couple of Ferrothorn scrape their way in, pushing two Pokemon forward with them. One of the Pokemon collapses on the ground as soon as they stop.
"Dasher? Psycho?" I gasp.
"You better believe it, little sis! We came to rescue you," Dasher admits as he helps Psycho up off the floor. "But, ah, we might need some rescuing ourselves." Both give me slightly embarrassed smiles. To my utter relief, they don't look too terrible. Sure, Psy is kind of swaying on his feet, and Dasher seems to be using him for support as much as he is supporting, but they are alive enough.
"Quiet, both of you," Peaseblossom growls. "Nattorei, explain to me the meaning of this farce! These two were supposed to be kept with Tabunne in the infirmary. This, is not the infirmary."
A Ferrothorn with a scar down their face steps forward. "I know. 'Tis a long story, and I dare say that these two will be able to explain better their side than I ever could." they admit. She, I should say. The voice is distinctly feminine.
Peaseblossom huffs, "Then get on with what you do know, please."
She nods and obliges. "I and Noacier were guarding the entrance inside the Cavern Palace as we were when you brought this one in." Carefully, she gestures to me with a vine. "Then, these two strange Pokemon came in, demanding to see you. We tried to bounce them out, as you were busy, but the annoyingly whiny one became very pushy, and eventually attempted an assault. Luckily, he was quickly dispatched with necessary measures."
"Necessary measures!" Dasher sputters. "You put both me and Psy in a headlock! And for one stray Focus Blast!"
"And you took his berry," Psycho adds.

"Quiet you," Peaseblossom admonishes to them. His tone becomes sharper in his annoyance.
Dasher rolls his eyes. "Ah, no. I at least want to state that they didn't have to "restrain" Psycho too, because he wasn't making trouble. Dialga-darn-it, couldn't you tell he isn't feeling well?"
"That's awfully nice of you Dasher," Psycho offers up quietly.
Dasher sighs and shakes his head. "No, it's not. I should have made you stay with Ken. You're not strong enough yet."
Under his breath Psycho mutters something suspiciously like "I am too".
Looking affronted, and probably indignant as Peaseblossom is at being ignored, Nattorei slides up to Dasher and begins her own protest. "I shall have you know, young upstart, that your problems are not ours! 'Tis your own fault for coming in unannounced and just demanding what you will. As to restraining the other, we had no choice but assume that if one of you got violent, then the other might too." She and Dasher proceed to glare at each other as if it could make the other evaporate.
"Then you don't know us very well," Dasher says darkly.
"I reckon I do not want to," she retorts.
Just as I feel like someone - probably Dasher - is going to get beat up, Peaseblossom clears his throat and waves his hand dismissively. He gives both Dasher and Nattorei a glare. "Nattorei, please restrain yourself. You, Noacier, and Grindur may go back to your duties." They nod and exit the room, not without glaring back at us. Dasher may have unintentionally given us some new enemies. Not that we don't already have some.

As soon as they leave and the room goes back to pitch black, the Chancellor turns back to us. He gives me a haughty look and sniffs. "Well, by will or way, you have your brothers back. Now will someone tell me what in Kyurem's cave is going on?"

Psycho gives a giggle. "Kyurem's cave! That's a new one."
The shadow of Peaseblossom that I can see puffs out his chest in severe irritation. Some part of me feels extreme satisfaction. It seems that having my brothers back will be worth more than compulsory family obligation.

Dasher

The creepy Vileplume in the shadows is probably giving us looks that should kill as we relate our tale. I would have told the guy to lay off and come again another day, except Sparkle gave me a pleading look and mouthed, "Humor him" when I was going to protest saying anything. It's not something I would expect from her, but hey, it's been a rough day. The guy seemed pretty ticked with her already. I wonder how she managed to make him so mad in the first place.

With painful slowness on part of consistently meaningless chatter by Psycho - I think he really needs to lie down and take a long nap right now - we begin our story from the day that Psy mysteriously vanished and I ran off looking for him. It was only yesterday, but it might well be a lifetime ago.
Yet, we don't tell the entire tale. Psycho neglects to mention Matrifol, that royal-Leavanny fixing up his arm. Sparkle completely leaves out what happened between rescuing Lotus and finding me, and I know that there is something in that timeframe that has majorly unsettled her. I and Psy both "forget" to relay the content of the nightmares we each had during the Possession. Of course, neither of us say anything to the others about the missing pieces to our story.

Peaseblossom is stoically silent through the whole thing. Every so often, he nods, but there is no more movement than that until we finish.
"I had hoped," he begins gravely, "that the Dark Days had ended once and for all, since nothing had happened to us this year. I will make this explanation short, since some of you are obviously more slow to the fact than others."
Surprisingly enough, I can feel Psycho drop his head down shamefully beside me. I had figured that such a comment would go completely over his head, but he isn't too dumb to not grasp it's implication.

"Twenty five years ago," Peaseblossom begins, "The guardian of this forest loved a Zoarak. Unfortunately, a petty group of thieving humans took her away shortly after he had the courage to ask her to be his mate. Because the residents of the Hidden Woods were unable to help at the time, and another human just so happened to try to help, Lord Moon had the gall to blame us for his loss. He tried to consult with the Forest Elder about what to do next." Hesitating ominously, Peaseblossom appears to shake his head.
"Something must have gone wrong in the meeting, because he disappeared for five years. When he returned, Lord Moon was changed. He ran rampant through the forest for five days on end, recruiting Pokemon in their sleep to go on a search that was never completed, and never will be. This has happened for five days, every five years since, known as the Darkened Days. Lord Moon, is now utterly, completely, and wholly mad."
After the annoyingly long-winded speech, the outline of Chancellor draws up to his tiny full-height and seems to stare at the each of us.
"So, uh," Psycho says awkwardly, "what are we supposed to do about it?"
Peaseblossom shakes his flower heavily. "Nothing. You have actually delivered some good news to the Woods; we will not have to deal with Darkening this year, as those Tamed Ones shall. It is not our problem for the now."

The other two absorb the implication of his statement, while I launch into action straightaway. "I can't believe this!" I protest, "You are just going to let other Pokemon get hurt because you can't be bothered to walk outside of your safe little sanctuary and help?"

The figure of Peaseblossom trembles a little, and he hops off of his rock and up to me. I don't know what I am supposed to do when he places his hand on my head and just... holds it there.
"You do not understand what you accuse me of, young whelp," he whispers.
It surprises me when Sparkle, who probably can't see very well with the light in her face, starts screaming for the Vileplume to get his hand off of me.
"Dasher! Move away!" she yells, struggling on the vines binding her. "The Chancellor's a Dreamworld Pokemon from the Entree Forest! He has Effect Spore!"
Effect what? I think. What is she blabbering about? It confuses me just enough that I'm not really sure whether I should move away from his touch or stay where I am. Unlike my sister, I am obviously not bound in place.
It hits me rather belatedly a few seconds later what Sparkle means by "Effect Spore" and "Dreamworld Pokemon" when tendrils of electricity shoot from his hand, into me.
I am thrown backwards into a wall. The strange numbness and inability to move that comes with the abrupt Paralysis turns out to be something to be grateful for. It means two things; first, I can't scream. Second, slamming against the wall doesn't really hurt.
Unfortunately, Sparkle and Psy don't realize this. Both of them shriek enough for two of me when I go flying, and in the brief flicker of electric light, both look scared. I can't blame them.
Psycho is instantly at my side, shaking me as if that will instantly dispel the status condition.
"Dasher! Dasher!"
"He is fine." Montolio steps from the far end of the cavern and into a rare puddle of light. "Your sibling is just Paralyzed. Please forgive the Chancellor for his outburst, as we are all under stress this day." He gives a latent glare into the shadows where I presume Peaseblossom to be. If that was an "outburst", I wonder, how bad is it when Peaseblossom is really upset?

Heedless of his understatement, Montolio pads up to Sparkle in the darkness. A sawing sound ensues, and Sparkle falls to the floor in surprise as her bonds fall away.
"What ever are you doing, Battlemaster?" Peaseblossom questions, irritated.
The Absol seems to help Sparkle back up on her feet. "Releasing them," he replies. "You have gotten all the information you need from them, have you not? These Pokemon have been through the Distortion World and back today, Chancellor. I intend to let them have a little break from trouble. 'Tis only proper."

Sighing, Peaseblossom walks to the door. "Fine. You always did have a soft spot for the underdogs, you know." He slips out the door, only to poke his head back in a moment later. "Oh, and Battlemaster?"
"Yes Chancellor?" Montolio asks.
"Make sure that the obnoxious males get the proper treatment for Darkening tonight, will you?"
"I shall."
The Vileplume nods once before leaving. "Good. Have a nice day."

Psy lets out his breath as soon as Peaseblossom is out the door. "By Mew, I don't like that guy," he mutters. I wish now that I could speak right now, so I could agree with him.
My sister and Montolio come over to us and lift me off of the ground.
Snorting, Montolio comments direly on his own. "I am afraid you will have to get used to the Chancellor. Just for future reference, if he offers a "supportive hug," do not take it. The fine powder that gives his ability covers every inch of him, and prolonged exposure is terribly poisonous."

The rest of us stay silent for a moment. Then, we all burst out in laughter. Or, I would join in if I could. Because the thought of Peaseblossom giving a hug is too funny to put in words, you know?

Psycho

Sparkle and I support Dasher as we walk through the narrow passage, Montolio trotting up ahead of us. For a while we all stay pretty quiet. It takes a minute before Montolio bothers to look back at us and say anything.
"So," he says, scraping a claw on the floor measuredly, "what is it you shall do now that you are free?"
Sparkle looks slightly surprised at Montolio's question. "Go home. What else would we do?" She sighs, sending an eerie echo across the passageway. "I don't mean to be rude, but this place doesn't sit well with me."
In the dimness of the cave, I almost swear I see Montolio give a rueful smile. "I am afraid it will not work out the way you wish, for several reasons. The first is that no one here has any idea where you live, and I suspect you do not know the way back yourself. The second, is that Peaseblossom simply will not allow you outside the Hidden Woods for the next few days."
I shift my grip on Dasher, limping along pitifully. "Why won't he? That guy's rather the sourpuss, isn't he?"
Montolio bobs his head in limited agreement. "Sure, the Chancellor is dour at times, but not entirely without reason. Until the Darkened Days end, it is simply not safe to let you wander outside the safety of the Hidden Woods." He pauses, without uncertainty. "Not that Peaseblossom want to keep you three safe. Tell me, does your assertive brother make it his habit to create enemies, or is he just not in the mood to play nice?"
I almost drop Dasher in shock when he lifts his head up a little and speaks. "People seem to naturally dislike me for whatever reason. I just go with it." A couple small sparks flicker over his features before he goes limp again.
"Yet since you choose to "just go with it", you say," Montolio snorts dryly, "most of the Grass types ought hate you. They follow Peaseblossom with utter devotion. And, the Bugs already are suspicious of you for bringing a Grass type."
"Eek!" Sparkle squeals, jostling Dasher and getting a pretty sharp look in return. "I had almost forgotten about Lotus! Is he alright?"
Montolio taps his claws impatiently. "One thing at a time. We can get to your "relative" later." He flicks his tail as if to shake off a nervousness that creeps into his demeanor. "It is obvious to me that the three of you are pretty inexperienced at battling. Considering how many Pokemon are already against you, and that you shall not be able to leave until three days hence, you could be at the mercy of any of the more ruthless in the Woods."
"Isn't this place supposed to be safe?" I point out.
The Absol shakes his head forlornly. "To us. Not outsiders. And even for us, the long-running feud can take away safety in an instant." He paces up ahead, before returning to us and our careful pace. "That is why I am offering to teach you how to battle. You need skills more than most here, or you will be at the mercy of most here."

Sparkle and I share a look. There is no way any of us, especially Dasher, want to battle. I hate hurting others, and I hate getting hurt. Yet, how much other choice is there, assuming all of us want to get out alive? Not much. On the bright side, it will be nice to finally have Spark off our back for refusing to battle when we finally come home.
Both Sparkle and I nod. Dasher gives a feeble flop of his head that I hope is a nod, and rivulets of electricity run down him.
Montolio smiles back at us. "Good. With hope, you will not be utterly useless when I am through with you."

"This guy is nuts," Dasher hisses softly through clenched teeth, "like everyone else on this planet!"
Perhaps that wasn't a nod after all.
The passageway begins to branch out, and we follow Montolio through the maze-like tunnels. It is not as if we have any idea of where to go in this darkness ourselves. Eventually, a thin layer of light filters through the murk of the cave.
An exit to the caves appears after the next turn. Two Ferrothorn guard it. It's hard to tell one of them from another, but I think these ones aren't Nattorei and Noacier. I let a sigh of relief. Those two were rather gruff with Dasher, not that I can blame them.

Montolio talks with the guards shortly. Afterward, they nod and scoot aside. Both Ferrothorn give us three strange looks as we pass through. The waterfall splatters us as we walk through, but I don't really care anymore.
The sky above is dusky rose in the evening light, showing omen of the impending nightfall. Tension clenches Montolio's jaw as he glances to the skyline and shakes water off his coat.
He turns to face us. "We must hurry to the infirmary, so you two can get the treatment for Darkening. I hope you do not mind staying up all night, since that is the only way to keep you out of Lord Moon's grip."
"But what about Dark Void?" I ask. "Won't he make an in-person appearance and steal us away anyway?"
The Battlemaster shakes his head and motions with his tail for us to follow. We continue through the forest after him, leaving the roaring waterfall behind.
"I am afraid Lord Moon will be too occupied with the Pokemon of your Mansion to bother out here for just two. Three, if we include your green relative." Sparkle sniffles a little to herself here, for whatever reason. "Your friends back at your home will have much to deal with tonight. See, Lord Moon returns his charges for a few hours at evening light, before he takes them again. On the eve of the third day, he takes the most of all."
I shiver at the thought of everyone back home freaking out because of more taken, right after they think they have most everyone back. It is going to be be a rough night for them.

It will be a rough night for everyone, I know.

Rascal

Time passed quickly as soon as I had my idea. Within the afternoon, everyone in the mansion, including all the Obscures (and not including Spark and Twirla), had been rounded up in the living room's ruin.
Joy-joy had finally come-to, insisting that she felt fine all the while. It is debatable whether she really is "just fine" or not, but Golly and I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt for the now. "The now" being until she collapses on us.

"Rascal, how is this going to do us any good?" Joy whispers nervously to me, taking role call yet again of the many Pokemon gathered in the living room. It is quiet to a surprising degree.
I scratch my beard, weighing my words. "Simple. Darkrai can take us on easily if we are scattered, one-on-one as he must have done to Dasher last night. If everyone is awake in the same place, ready to support each other when the time to fight him comes, he'll fall. Not even a legendary can withstand such odds against a group of determined Pokemon. If this weren't a survival situation, I'd have the mind to call it a dirty trick and insist we not try it."
She checks another name off of the list. "Nova, here. But is everyone going to fight?" Biting her lip nervously, Joy's eyes wandering the crowd of nervous Pokemon. Some look excited for the impending battle, and others just look dead-scared. "The less-experienced might flee, cause a panic, or get in the way..." she points out.
"Well," I sigh, "if it works, we should at least take out this Full Moon, and maybe even liberate the Possessed. More importantly, do you have any other bright ideas?"
Joy shakes her head and scratches off another name. "No."
I nod briskly. If there isn't anything else reasonable enough anyone can volunteer, then there is little other choice but go with my plan. With hope, we can keep that Dialga-be-darned Darkrai from taking more innocents.
At my own rambling pace, I make way through the crowd. Most make room for me to pass through. There are a plethora of notable expressions on the other Pokemon's faces at my passing; respect, adoration, envy, annoyance, dismissal. There are even a few outright ignoring me. No such thing as a bad Pokemon, forgetting Full Moon, but there is no such thing as a perfect Pokemon either.
When I have passed perhaps halfway through everyone gathering around the room, a loud knock jostles me out of my pensive mood.

"Psst," the basement door hisses, "Rascal! I see you there!"
"Oh, Spark, how delightful that you choose now to abuse your strange ability to see through walls," I scold gently as I scoot in to the door. "Have you and Twirla finally stopped bickering?"

There is dissentive muttering from behind the door, and I get the simultaneous answers "Sure, I suppose," and "Yes, yes, YES already!" from Twirla and Spark respectively.
"That does not sound very convincing," I observe to them both.
Something hits the door, but does not knock it down. It seems that Spark has a measure of self-control left after all. "Come on. We've been waiting so long, and I've gotten kinda bored." With a soft growl, Spark makes her final point. "And, uh, we both came to the conclusion that neither's heartbreak and pain hurts more than the other's. Not that being encased in ice with each other influenced that decision," she finishes dryly.
Twirla thinly pipes in her own agreement. "I don't want to fight Spark again. Or get frozen, I would say."

"It still doesn't sound completely sincere," I admonish, "but I would rather have the two of you with me when we next have to face this Darkrai." To Spark's obnoxious cheers, I flip the lock and ease open the door.
Chaos instantly ensues, as is usual of late. "FREEDOM!" Spark roars as she leaps through the open doorway and inevitably knocks me to the floor. With no large measure of sincerity, she squeaks out a "Sorry Rascal!" and tears through the crowd towards Joy. Joy herself appears to be mildly surprised, and starts chatting with Spark. What is more shocking, is that I had the idea that this would happen beforehand.

With much more dignity, Twirla sweeps in through the basement door. "Good to be out," she quips with a slight and recognizable smile on her face. It is similar to the way Dasher looks when he is put-out. One could almost believe the two were really related for a moment.
For that same moment, the two of us stand in silence, and amusement at Spark's ways. I swear by Mew, if she ever changed everyone would be off of their toes and bored fast. Why-
"A-hem." A very small voice rises up to my side. "Rascal."
I turn to see the source; Golly. The Gothitelle tugs nervously at my wing and gives a pointed look at both me and Twirla. "Can we talk for a minute? Sure? Alright," she blusters, pulling me aside and motioning for Twirla to follow. Golly guides us to the broken window - which is starting to make the room uncomfortably cool, what with the sun setting - and gives a twitchy glance outside.
"Golly, just tell us what is wrong here," Twirla whispers into the evening air.
Shivering a little, Golly bites her lip. The words fall out of her mouth soon after. "Alright, I'm sorry, but this is starting to freak me out." She peeks back outside. "Look, I was standing here, watching for that Darkrai, and I swear I saw a Gallade creeping in the forest. I put it off as nervous paranoia for a bit, until I caught glimpse of Gli in the trees. It scared me half to death, and I thought maybe we were being invaded or something." That said, Golly shivers again and glides away from the window.

Both Twirla and I proceed to scan the backyard and surrounding trees for movement. Everything is still to point of suspicion. Not even the wind stirs. Chills run up my spine simply thinking about what may be going on, unbeknownst to us.
After scanning thoroughly, Twirla looks back at Golly. "Nothing. I see nothing. Are you sure this isn't overreaction? It is very common when stress levels are high in any individual subject," she says softly, wringing her hands just slightly. "Stress levels" indeed. I certain know that Twirla has high "stress levels" herself.
Golly shakes her head. "I am positive something is happening. It's a gut feeling, you know?"
I sigh and stroke my beard as both argue quietly back and forth in the issue. A breeze blows from the window, prompting me to turn back to the yard. My heart nearly bursts in my chest as a shadow appears on the lawn where it was empty not seconds before.
Slowly, every-so slowly, the patch of darkness rises from the grass and assumes the form of Darkrai. In all my long life, I have not yet seen one so near. Blue eyes stare at me, as hollow and emotionless as those of the Possessed.
Twirla and Golly must have seen my shock, as both come over and shake me just a little. Both also freeze before they get a word out and as they glance over the windowsill.
Golly whimpers and clings to me. "Oh my Giratina, kill me now. That's Full Moon, isn't it?"
Others near the windows start realizing what has just materialized outside. Some Pokemon scream, and others still stand frozen in place. I note Joy and Spark come to stand by me.
"What does he want now?" Spark mutters in a low growl.
Trembling, Golly squeaks out, "To Possess the rest of us, perhaps?"
"Anything is possible," I whisper back.

Full Moon turns a sharp glare to the broken window, making no sound as he does. He waves a hand airily to the forest. Several Pokemon creep and fly out, all of them Possessed abducted earlier by him.
One steps forward from the others. As they step out from the shadows if the trees, they resolve to be Roku. At my side, I can feel Spark clench up and bristle in indignant anger. She must still be upset over Full Moon taking him under our nose. Spark has never been fond of sneaky tricks.

Roku strides up to the mansion with complete confidence. He stops a few feet from our window, staring from Joy, to me, to Golly and Twirla, then lastly to Spark.
"You... cannot stop me," he says in dry monotone more akin to wind on the leaves than his voice. "My search must... continue... It will." He reaches over and runs a paw down the window sill. Golly presses up against me and shrinks back from the scene.
"But first they rest."
His paw lingers before lifting to gesture at the last rays of sunlight leaving the sky, and the half-moon shedding it's own. "I will be back... As the moon... lifts to the center of they sky. At what you call midnight... I will be back."

The Darkrai lowers his hand ominously. The sun disappears from the treetops as he sinks back into the shadow, and into the forest. At the same moment, all of the Possessed collapse.
Many shriek belatedly at this frightening display. Several of us pour out of the mansion, mostly just Spark dragging Twirla, Joy and I. Golly follows close behind.
I nearly have yet another heart attack as a window with a flowerbox from the top floor slams open. Loppily leaps from it and onto the ground. After recovering from the shock, she bounds over to the limp form of Bright and starts sobbing and shaking him.
While the others gather around the unconscious Possessed, I take tally. Bright. Roku. Gli. Cosmo. Gallant. And- I blink and rub my eyes at the last figure, before it hits me that Gust must have somehow evolved into Drifblim during the day. Not the best way to evolve, I would say.
There is no-one else here. I mentally add up the missing; Sparkle, Dasher, Psycho, and Lotus. I would expect Sparkle to still be lost, but why didn't Full Moon still have Lotus and the other obnoxious ones under control? Was he still "searching" with them, or whatever he said? It could be assumed they annoyed him to horribly even subdued as such, and he cast them away, but then Psycho would have at least found way home. The whole thing looks grim from any perspective.

Lopy and Twirla help Gallant and Bright limp inside the mansion. Both look utterly exhausted, and out of it to boot. Bright and Lopy whisper back and forth as she props him up by the shoulder. On their other side, Twirla supports Gallant. They share a silence that needs no explaining.
I step in to walk beside them. Gallant turns slightly to look at me. "Where," he coughs out, "where are the kids? Twirla said the boys were taken, and that Sparkle followed them. Why aren't they here?"
"I wouldn't know," I sigh. "They just aren't here. It can't be pretty."
Tears roll down Twirla's cheeks. "You don't think they could be... Dead? None of them were strong in the first place. That Darkrai could have very well pushed them past their limit." She shudders. "If he did-"
"I don't think he did," Spark spits out from behind, dragging unconscious Roku in with his tail in her mouth. "If Full Moon did kill them, who would Arceus send to make my life miserable? Nah, they have to be alive."
"Just because you are out to get them doesn't mean the universe kept them alive for you to torture later on!" Twirla snaps back at her. With no explanation, her face softens. "But I'm glad you think they aren't dead."
"What else are sisters fo'," Spark mutters disconsolately.
I open the door for everyone, and we troop in. Joy-joy carries Gli and Cosmo in. Both are too tired to fly, and rest in her arms. Gli repeatedly insists he had a nightmare about chasing Sparkle. The little Staravia just quivers uncontrollably.
Lastly, Gust drifts in. He still seems alright, at least to the extent of floating unaided.
Everyone is going about in a state of panic, running about and asking questions. Most seem to be centered on three things; why not everyone was returned, what will happen to those who were returned, and whether Darkrai will come back.
The noise level is unbearable, and nothing seems to be getting done. By way of calming down the crowd, I clamber onto a cast-aside couch.
"SILENCE!" I yell. My wish is instantly granted as all calm down except for those trying to fix up the Possessed.
"I have about as much idea as you do on what is happening," I tell them. This doesn't seem to make anyone more comfortable. All prick ears at my next sentiment.
"But there is one thing I know; by Mew, we are all in for one heck of a night."


...To be continued in River of Divides.

Thank you guys for sticking with me here! This is the first writing project I have ever actually finished, and I am pleased to say that it will continue in the next installment, River of Divides. For the moment, I am going to wait to come out with that until I have written down enough of it's beginning, have caught up on my schoolwork, and polished up Forest of Secrets. You might have even noticed that I already redid the battle scene with Possessed Bright. I looked back at it, and realized just how much I have improved over the months. So, feel free to comment, and thanks again!

Links to the rest of the series;
(Here will be a link to River of Divides.)
(And here, I might have a third. Still working on the title...)

You're working on a novel? Neat. I have yet to read the whole thing, so I'll wait for you to polish it up first.