Chapter Three

Dasher

The winding path gets more difficult to follow as I go along it. Large rocks mix in with the pebbles, and the terrain changes from flat to mildly hilly. How wonderful. As I run along the road, I call out for my siblings. One, this should keep the pokemon whom hate me me away, and two, if Psy and Sparkle are anywhere about they'll come running.
Even so, nothing happens. No one materializes, not even my siblings, and this strange forest feels desolate. I'm not really the sort to get lonely, but I dislike total isolation. Who doesn't, after a while at least? The only sound I can hear is the crunch of gravel under my feet, and my cries for Sparkle and Psycho. Empty of company, filled with trees might be a good way to describe the place.
Eventually, the road ends. To my slight dismay, it ends straight into a river. Litterally, the path just converges right into it, weirdly dispersing into the rocky shore. The river itself is deep and wide. There's probably some way to cross, but what good would that do? It's not as if the path reappears on the other side.
"Gah!" I cry in frustration, and kick at a rock. My mind has cleared a lot from when I first came here. It's obvious that there's no ready way home, and that my siblings are nowhere to be found. I hate this place! Why would Full Moon stick me here? I know he did it, he was the last one I saw before I appeared here.
In my rage, I kick at another rock. The gravel under me shifts with the displacement of the stone, and I realize that the land slopes slightly toward the river. With a flurry of movement, the rocks under me shift, and I slide unwillingly on them and into the brook. Cold water like ice hits my skin. A yell escapes mye as the strong current pulls me down the stream. What have I done now?
Strong rapids drag me below the surface of the water, and I flail my way back to the top. Just as I reach it and catch a breath, I get sucked under once more. Head over heels, I tumble and spin in the battering rapids. It's lucky that the water is deep, else I would have hit my head a lot. The sky seems to mingle, and then merge with the dark stones at the bottom of the riverbed. Coughing up bubbles from the batterment, I slip further under, into the deep of the river. I am powerless, as I am every time something terrible happens.
Also like every other time in my life, luck saves me. As my vision darkens, a figure from above the stream breaks the surface of the water and grabs my hand. With a few strong kicks, they push to the top and bring me with them.
I take some very much needed breaths and wipe the water from my eyes and hair before considering my rescuer. Grateful as I am, I intend to say something witty so I don't look enitrely dumb for almost getting myself drowned.
My heart skips a beat when I glace up and see that it's Psycho whom saved me. He can swim? I've never seen him try. Perhaps it's one of those things he goes off and does in the forest, when I'm not there with him. I don't really go in the forest much, and he explores it's every nook and cranny. It would make a certain sense, that he knows how to swim.

There's a haughty look on his face. It occurs to me that since everyone else I've met in this alternate reality hates me, why should my brother be any different? A sinking feeling weighs down my relief. It was a mistake to go looking for him or Sparkle here. I'm only going to get hurt, and by my own feelings nonetheless. Never thought there would be a day that I would dread scorn aimed my way. Well, it seems I do from Psycho.
We lock our gaze for a moment as I catch my breath. He says nothing, only smooths down the gauze wrapping his injured arm. Water drips thickly from the bandage.
"Psycho," I say, "I was looking for you."
An absence of expression is all that registers in his face.
"This place is messed up. I hoped you could... I dunno... help me figure things out? Get home?"
"When have you helped me?" The comment takes me by surprise. "I always have to help you. You never thank me. You never aknowledge it. It's as if you expect everyone to accept your fallabilities, and make exceptions for you."
"Come on. We're brothers..."
"You take advantage of me, brother. Since when have you bothered to care about me? You told me my love life was dead before it even started, and you treated it as entertainment."
"I... what... You... recall that?" He actually remembered that? I never though he remembered those things... and if he didn't rememberthem, did they really hurt him? My Giratina, the world feels like it's been turned on it's head. I almost feel dizzy. Strange queasy feelings slide in mystomach, and I have the idea of what is going to happen next. Is this... betrayal?
"I forget less than you hope. Now, I'll forget you more than you want. I'll forget you need help. I'll forget you entirely. You're lucky I helped you in the first place." The familiar, and usually pleasant voice my brother has, takes on a steel cold tone.
"Goodbye, dear brother."

Sparkle

"Lotus!" I shriek. My hands fly to cover my mouth, as I remember any one of the possessed could be nearby. Shouldn't lead them here by being so loud.
Lotus turns feebly to face me. His face is dewed with tears, and tiredness etches his face. "Sparkle?" Surprise registers, then relief. "I'm not alone anymore!"
"Dead-right you're not," I say as I rush over. "How did this happen?"
He shakes his head. "How'm I supposed to know? I fall asleep, and I'm all alone, no one there, I look, still no one," a fresh wave of tears cascades from his eyes here, "and then it was just me and the-them unea-arthing them, and I w-w-ake and I-I'm alone still, c-can't get back and find anyone, I'm ju-just stuck, and..." shivers run down him as he cuts off. "I don't li-i-ike being alone. What made me alone?" His eyes stare directly into my face as I bend down over him.
Half of what he says makes no sense. Digging them up? Digging what up? I do have an answer to his last question at least. "You got Possessed, Lotus."
"What? My body got hijacked?"
"Pretty much. The Lunar Wing didn't work, and according to Spark, it actually was a Darkrai doing it."
"I didn't kill or hurt anyone, did I?"
"Not as far as I know." Most likely not. I think I was the only person to go out into the forest, and the forest pokemon seem smart enough to keep out of the way for this. Unconciously, I smooth back a misplaced petal on Lotus's head. For some reason, he looks so... innocent. Like a little kid. I feel rather protective of him. There's no way I can leave Lotus behind like this, even to look for my brothers.
"Can't you lift this tree, Lotus? I've seen you lift stuff like that with your vines. You Five are really strong."
"I feel like I've run a mile, I've been really lonely, my legs are numb and in a bad way I suspect, and I'm hungry, with no access to sunlight or food. Do you think I'm in good enough shape to lift it?"
"I suppose not..."
Shakiliy, he rises into a sitting position. "Could you do it?"
The thick bulk of the tree looms over us. "How could I? I've got no strength... I don't even have a Psychic to do the job."
With a flop, he's laying back down. "Please, try. I want to get out of here. Could you promise me something also?"
"I'll try. There's not guarantee I'll succede. What else do you want me to promise?"
"Two things. Don't leave me, not here in this place all alone. The next thing... There are some secrets I just can't keep anymore. It's killing me, the guilt, but I couldn't see a time to let them into the light before, and they could hurt some people. I waited for the right time, but it never presented itself. Now, this may be the only chance I get. Promise you'll forgive me for leaving them be in the first place. Promise you'll listen, and not tell. I can't stand it anymore!" Wetness mists his eyes, dangerously threatening to tears again. I feel shocked at more things than one. Lotus hid secrets? He did say he had an intrest in them yesterday. But to speak about them in such a manner would insinuate that he knows a lot more than just a few, and for once he's speaking bluntly. What surprises me even more, is that he wants me to know some... and forgive him for them? This is messing with my mind, but how can I deny his wish when he's in such a state?
"I promise Lotus."
"Glad to get that off my shoulders. Please don't get mad."
"At what?"
"Nothing, yet. Could you, help with the tree now?"
With a nod, I get up to inspect the dead dendrite. Obviously, my moveset of Hypnosis, Dream Eater, Protect and Teleport won't be very useful for the task. All I need to do is shift it about half a foot, and Lotus will be freed. My inadequate physical strength won't be enough to move it even an inch, it's such a thick, heavy tree. However, I see an opening for something that could possibly work.
The end opposite Lotus, the place where the trunk of the tree is broken from the stump that's still left in the earth, is propped up on the stump perhaps a good foot or so. My slender frame fits well enought in the gap, when I lay down and slide in.
Obviously, I can't just lift it up from here. What I can do is summon a Protect. I slide my hands in front of my eyes and will the wall of energy to summon. It obeys my will, and materializes half an inch from my face. Slowly, I move it forward until it presses up against the tree's bark. I condense the square to be about a foot wide on either end. This part could be tricky, so I pull in my legs to avoid them getting squashed when the tree falls.
Most people underestimate the gradual power of Protect. As well as acting as a shield in it's own right, with gentle persuation it can be forced forward to budge things that won't normally move. Persistance is key. This is what I do with the tree. With precise movement, I push it forward. Inch by in the tree shifts. Long minutes pass as I force it to roll. Sweat breads on me from the strain of holding it so long. If this were a battle, I most would have let go of it by now, or else it would have taken too much of my strength. The drain it takes to hold is the reason Protect can't be summoned just any time. You have to make it count. I feel grateful towards Mother, whom has taught me such knowledge in case I ever did decide to battle. It's come in handy after all.
With a groan of finality, the tree rolls off the stump, and by extension, off of Lotus. A sigh comes from Lotus, and I smile what I have accomplished. An old saying of Mother's come to mind; What strength can't do, persistance and cunning can work out.

I've finally gotten the editing done, but now a have a small problem on my hands having to do with having too much homework to do. Updates will happen whenever I have the time, which may not be very often anymore... It'll be as often as I can manage, in any case.

If you have difficulty following along with the separate plotlines and realities the characters endure, I'd advise you look on this. It might help, but beware that it spoils just a little;

Highlight to view spoiler.
Bright, Dasher, and Psycho are all possessed. Most of you might be able to figure out that the completely separate things they are/will be experiencing are nightmares inflicted on their consciousnesses as Full Moon takes control of them. Wasn't sure if I made that clear enough. What Sparkle, Loppily, Spark, all the other characters say is really going on in the story. Rephrase; Bright, Dasher, Psycho, NIGHTMARES, everyone else, REALITY. There. Most likely unnecessary explaining, but I wanted to make sure it could be understood.

Joy-joy

"Lopy, Bouncing onto the chandelier and refusing to come down won't help Bright in anycase."
Uncharacteristic attitude contorts Lopy's face into a pout. "Neither will hiding in here like scaredy-Delcatty. Can't we all just go out in one big group together and, I don't know, knock them out and bring them home safe?"
I groan and palm my forehead. "It's useless unless we find a way to keep Full Moon from returning again tonight. He'll just take them again, and where would we be then? What we need to to is make this place Darkrai-proof. Besides, if we go out there, even in a big group, someone is liable to get really hurt."
Lopy shifts postiton on the chandelier bar, and turns away. "I still think we need to go after them."
"Bright would be really upset if he hurt anyone by accident again. You know that better than anyone else, Loppily," Twirla says softly. "You don't want something like that to happen, do you?"
But my Loppuny is blind to reason. "It wouldn't be like that, if we all went together, and one big group to take them back. As to getting re-possessed, we'd just stay up all night, and fight off Darkrai at home. Once the five days would be up, we'd be fine. If you'd just listen to me-"
"But Lop-" My interuption is interupted by a frantic disuation on Lopy's part:
"LALALA, NOT LISTENING!" True enough of a statement. Wrapping her ears around herself, Loppily curls into a little ball of fur hanging onto the chandelier cord. Even if I screamed at the top of my lungs, Lopy couldn't hear me.

"Ugh," I say to myself, "Even Lopy's gone over the edge. How are we supposed to keep off Full Moon anyways?"
Twirla pats me on the shoulder, and I am glad of the comfort she provides. Not sure what I'd do without her. "It's alright. Lopy will come around eventually. We have other unpleasantries to deal with."
"Like trying to fortify this place against a Dialga-be-darned Darkrai?"
She winces at my slip of the tongue. "Don't tell me you're getting into that language too. Enough that Spark uses it, and that my children copy her, but do you have to patronize the legendaries as well?"
"Sorry, Twirla. Didn't mean it. You were saying?"
She looks despondently over my shoulder. "There's a difficultly with searching anti-Darkrai methods."
"Great. Lay it out on me."
Spark pads up from behind. "I'll have that pleasure: someone killed that wretched computer of yours."

I spin to face my desk. Sure enough, there's a large hole on the face of monitor. Shards of broken plastic that have fallen off the screen litter my keyboard, and cracks spiderweb out from the offending fracture. "Just another thing I'll have to pay for later. What'll people think of my house getting messed up like this? Magazine tabloids will be gossiping for weeks..."
Rascal coughs. I hadn't noticed him standing beside the desk before. "Worse, how are we going to find some way to repel Darkrai?"
"I know, I know. Lets see if it still works regardless of the hit it took."
I flip the on switch for the monitor. The screen turns on, but to static. Some pretty scarey sparks jump from the hole, and I pound the switch back off immediately. "Nix that. No die. How did this happen anyways?"

Queenie flits by. It seems everyone is jumping from place to place, trying to figure out what going on, and what they ought to be doing. Going back to ordianary life is obviously out of the question. "Yooou ruuuined this tooo, juzzzt like book? How you keep ruuuining theeezzze thingzzz, Joy? You in a mezzz of trouble. Biiig mezzz."
"Got that one right Queenie, if anything is ever right nowadays."

Psycho

My head pounds. My heart pounds. Giratina, even my feet pound the ground, trampling the leafen debris of the forest. The world has unusual clearity. I can see every leaf on every bush I pass, and even the swirling of the dust on the wind won't escape my attention. But, I don't care for that right now. There's only one thing I care for.
"Da-SHER!" I call, "Sparkle! I'm coming!" My voice is husky with anxiety.
The sounds of battle resound through the trees. They are my destination. Cries, breaking, smacking sounds carry back to me, feeding my fear. I don't know what kind of trouble my siblings are in, I don't know why, I just need to help them get out of it. A rythem establishes itself in the pounding I endure. Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no... Why do I feel such dread?

A new pulse, a kind of a chants coming from the forest itself beats to the cacophony around me. Words soon separate from indistinguishable murmur, carrying a feeling of impending... I'm not sure what it is...

Whisper, whisper,
Forest of Secrets,
hidden in the darkness,
smothered by the roots.

Murmur, murmur,
Forest of Secrets,
concealed by the leaves, and
stirred up in the wind.

Reveal, reveal,
Forest of Secrets,
bring to light your secrets,
covered nevermore.

My heart surges with the tune, and I feel the need to flee the accusing words of the trees. In my haste, my foot catches on a root I swear wasn't there before. A second of sickening surprise comes before I tumble head-over-heels, landing on my back in the dirt. With a shudder, I wince as my injured arm jars painfully as it slams on the ground. Dialga-darn-it! Auderously, I foist myself to my feet and move on. I don't even think about it, not too much anyway, just keep going toward my siblings. My arm soon joins the throbbing beat that still yet pulses within me.

The battle is close now, I can hear it. But then... the din fades away. Well, rather than fades, it comes to a jerking halt full of muffled thumps. The sounds simply stop after what is immediately recognizable as a yell from Dasher. it must have been him, because he always sounds so shrill when worked up. Was it from pain? My Mew, let it not be so. There's a sound of something rubbing against the ground, familiar, but difficult to place. Nothing but the throbbing fills the silence after.
"Sparkle! Dasher!"
I reach a dusty slice of land where a wide dirt path cleaves through forest. Stopping to examine the dust, my heart skips a beat as I mentally trace the patterns in the shifty soil. Swirls in a spiral shape, of the kind I've seen imprinted in the the dust after Mother spins to avoid an attack, the easiest way for a Gardevoir to dodge. Trailing gown tresses meet the earth to for the pattern. Various footprints also dot the ground. There are a few ones from a bird perhaps, digging in where one assumes the pokemon must have taken off in flight. Pin-point ones wider than my sibling's could have been are spaced around from something that could have more than one set of feet, and there are also pawprints from something on all fours. I know the pawprints must have come from a Houndoom, because thin rope-like indents slither in the right behind. There's even an imprint of a perfect triangular dip on the end of one such track.
What's worse is the tire tracks setting off from the battle area, and down a bend in the road to the left.
"No," I deny to myself, "Oh Giratina no!" but this is something I can't dismiss. I wasn't there in time...

Dasher

I lie quietly by the shoreline. There's not much for me to say. Not really anyone to say it to either.

The river isn't quite as frightening when one isn't being carried down it to their death. It's frigid, and the cold will help me clear my mind. My feet and... yes, my gown dangle in the water, spreading numbing shivers up my spine and down my arms.
I guess I can't blame Psycho for running off on me like that. Suppose I should be surprised it didn't happen long before this. After all... well, I'm not great company. Not even for myself.
Some of me fights the acceptance of such ideas. To go out and really know, not know, but know that I'm a jerk would be to say I've been a horrible person all my life. To accept it would be like killing myself, my whole personna as all know it. Who wants to know they have been a horrible person all their life? Only people out to "change themselves, and their ways for the better". Bah. Fools try to change. Fools try to evolve. I tell you, evolution is a wretched mess, if you've got a choice of anykind. My choice had been obvious to me from the beginning, and I still turned out wrong. Psycho did too. No accounting for fate. "Darn you, Dialga. You have all the time in the world, yet you still hadn't turned back the clock. You still didn't answer me those four years ago. Darn you!" I slap the water with my fist. "Evolution is a joke. I hate change, and everything's changed now. Lost, a Darkrai's doing, my brother hates me, and so does everyone else..."

There's such thing as destiny Dasher. Everything is meant to be.
"Quiet Sparkle. Wherever you are, you probably hate me too."
How I care for you can't change unless in the most extreme of circumstances. But Destiny is maleable, Dasher.
"I don't like change. I don't want to change Destiny unless it makes less change for me in the future. As to love not changing, read Twilight or the Hunger Games."
I know why you don't want it. It's hard. Not all change is painful Dasher...
"Shut up!" I yell behind me, "What would you know! You're not even here, and you're nothing but powerless impotent, with irritating brothers and a skin problem. Shiny's overrated, and so is useless philosophical advice."
She withdraws from me. Loneliness creeps up on me once more.
If only, I wasn't so conflicted right now... I'm chasing away everyone I care mildly for in my own confusion. Yep, just another day in the wonderful world of Pokemon...

Sparkle

I rest a moment, panting in the darkness. Lotus says naught either, who knows why. Who ever knows why, with him? He's a enigma even to Joy-joy I'd suspect. Once my strength has returns somewhat, and I feel well enough to handle whatever life decides to chuck in my face next, I walk over to my technical uncle. “I did it!” A little excitement can't be helped, as I feel a twinge of pride in my task.
“Yes. I figured you could,” he intones blandly, staring at the sky.
My excitement transmogrifies to concern. The tree hadn't done any horrible damage, had it? Then again, it's a tree after all, and would have certainly hurt me really badly if I had be pinned under it like that. “Can you walk, Lotus? Are your legs alright?”
For the first time, I realize that his face is rather drained of chlorophyll. Actually, all of him looks kind of drained. With as much strength as he can obviously muster, he rolls over a little and faces me. “I don't think I can even sit up, Sparkle, let alone walk. I've not felt this bad since Joy first matched me up against Cynthia's Milotic. That Ice Beam was killer...” I get the vague sense he's in a sort of reminiscence, looking back at a past I've never seen. Awkwardly, I wait a few minutes before verbally shaking him out of his reverie. “Come on, we need to get you back the mansion, Lotus. Before you get worse. You're already zoning out on me. Uh, you wouldn't happen to know the way back from here, would you?”
Slightly startled, he snaps back to the real world. “No, of course not. You know I don't really leave the house.”
“Ah. That's not good, because I don't know the way either.”
“Pick a direction. 1/8 times you'll be right.”
I wasn't certain about his calculations, but I suppose it couldn't be any worse than before. “Since you can't walk Lotus, may I pick you up? I can't just leave you here, especially since I promised not to, and we also really need to get home. Now.” He nods an assent.

Carefully, I slide my arms under his knees and back. I raise him up slowly to chest-level. He flinches somewhat, even with my caution. There's a strange expression on his face. I think it's pain, trying to stay hidden. “Would you rather me put you back down? You don't look so hot.”
“Pins and needles, is all. Burns like fire. Forget it, Sparkle, keep going.”
Sighing, I meticulously perambulate through the trees and away from the lake. Lotus's condition concerns me some, as well as the possibility of running into another possessed pokemon. Not even able to run, for fear of hurting Lotus further, I'd be at their mercy. The only hope left here would be finding the mansion before another possessed Pokemon finds me. It's doubtful anyone was sent in after me, since no one knew I left. Even Spark would be welcome, if she'd keep us safe. Certainly, she'd keep Lotus safe, I ponder whilst stepping around a bush.
Speaking of the devil, Lotus stirs restlessly in my arms. “Sparkle,” he asks, “You still haven't forgiven me.”
Surprised, I reply, “I'm not sure what I'm forgiving you for, Lotus.”
“You'd be upset if I told you. But, if you want, I'll tell you the secret anyways. Just please, absolve the guilt plaguing me...”
Considering it a moment, I decide I can't honestly forgive someone if I don't know what I'm forgiving them for. This sort of thing requires sincerity, I would think. “I gotta know first, Lotus. For all I know, you murdered someone and need atonement for it.” It doesn't sound quite as good coming out of my mouth.
Funnily enough, he finds it amusing. With a slight smile, he says, “No, but that sounds like something Spark would do.” More solemnly, “I guess I'll tell you if you need to know. But, please don't be upset. It can't be blamed if you are though.”
“Enough subterfuge, Lotus. Just spit it out now, you're killing me here. I really want to know.”
A silvered glint of starlight filters down through the thick branches overhead and flashes across him for a moment. He looks feeble, what with his limpness, tired demeanor, and the abnormal nervous cast to his face. Feeble is something none of the Five ever look. It's strength that sets them out from the rest of us. They just can't break.
With a guilt-ridden glace upwards at me, and a tenseness of jaw, he surprisingly finds the strength to give me a hug, whispering harshly;
“I know who your real father is, Sparkle.”

Joy-joy

“So, you're saying that Gallant just ran into the computer on his way out?”
“Not 'just ran into', Joy,” my dear Rascal rebukes. “It was more like he tripped and banged it real good with that sharp elbow of his as he rushed out. In a way, it wasn't really him who did it, since he was possessed.”
“You don't think it was done on purpose, was it?” Spark inquires tensely. “After all, if Full Moon can take them over, he can probably read their minds as well or something of the like. Maybe he gleaned from them that the computer's practically our only way to find out anything at this point, what with that book gone, and had Gallant kill it on his way out.”
I consider this. “Who knows. Might be, might not be. Either way we've got no way to learn any weakness or repellent for Darkrai. Unless anyone has any bright ideas?”
It's so quiet, I could hear a Kricketot chirp. A mangled suspiration comes from Twirla. Clearly, none of us has a clue what to do, myself included.
“Let's think,” I begin. “We just have to find a way to keep Full Moon away from the house.”
“Then un-possess everyone else.”
“That too.”
Twirla jumps up ecstatically. “I know what to do!”
“Spit it out then, we're drowning in problems here. A solution would be nice.” Spark says with an air of exasperation. She licks the base of one of her paws and smooths her mane with it. It's still rather burnt on the left side, I notice. “I, for one, think I oughta just nose out where this Dialga-be-darned Darkrai is holed up and straighten his act up. Teach him not to mess with us.”
Ignoring the explicit term, Twirla gives a noncommittal shrug. “Well, it's won't solve Full Moon, but it should solve the computer problem. Why don't we just take a USB drive, take out the Pokedex data on Darkrai from the dead computer and transfer it to the laptop?”
“Great idea!” I say. Pulling out a drive from the desk drawer, I realize there's a problem.
“Actually Twirla, I need the monitor to transfer the files. It's not possible to do so without being able to see what I'm doing on the computer. It's rather a manual process you know.”
“Oh. I had the idea you just stuck it in and the drive sucked out the information.”
Spark pauses her grooming for a low chuckle. “For you Twirla, that's a really stupid thing to assume. I supposed I'd call you blonde, except you've got green hair. Now, if you were a Jynx...”

We lapse into silence for a few moments. There's a broken computer, no more journal for a resource however scant it may have been, and I don't actually know much about Darkrai in the first place.
“We're done for.” Rascal announces randomly.
“Oh I dunno about that. You sound like Dasher, talking that way. Speaking of which, I suppose he might be doom...” Spark trails off as Twirla pales. “I mean, he might, uh, dare to tell us 'I told you so.' Of course, he was only half right. It was Darkrai, but the feather didn't work.” Nice save, I think.
Rascal looks up at the ceiling. “I suppose so. Great arrogant fool, he can be sometimes. We all are.” As the oldest pokemon in the mansion, no-one much minds Rascal's acerbic tonuge. For living as long as he has, and still staying one of the strongest, it's rather accepted that he has the right to comment on things as he sees them. Which doesn't quite always flatter what he comments on.
His gaze strays to the center of the ceiling. In confusion, his eyes furrow. “Now where did Loppily run off to?” With mote surprise, I realize that the chandelier is empty.

“Gah!” Spark jumps up. “I forgot to watch her! I'd guessed she might pull a Dasher on us and go looking for Bright.”
Hastily, she lopes over to the smashed window. “COME RIGHT BACK HERE OR I SWEAR I'LL TEAR THE FOREST APART AND YOU WITH IT!”

“Come on, you don't have to assume I'd be like that.” Lopy's head appears over the top of an armchair. “Running off isn't my style.” She jumps over the chair's back and next to me.
I sigh in relief. “You seemed like you had the mind to earlier. What made you change it?”
“Never said I changed it, just that I didn't run off like that. I still think we should go out there, but I'm not going to press the issue for now. Anything new on keeping away Full Moon?”
“If 'the computer's dead' is something new, that would be a yes, Bugs Bunny.” Sashaying proudly over, as if she hadn't made a fool of herself at the window, Spark prods Lopy with her tail. “I think I'm almost ready to try your idea myself. That's how desperate we are.”

Psycho

I flee despairingly after the car tracks. There's no way I'll be able to catch up with it. Car are just too fast to even keep pace with, let alone outrun. Still, I can't just let them take my siblings either.
The rhythm of the world around me had shifted from Ohnoohnoohno, to Nonononono...
“DASHER! SPARKLE!”
No reply. I hadn't expected one, but I had hoped.
The tracks just won't end. The trail just doesn't end. I have no idea how long I have been running, and time is always endless. The hours wear on, or at least it feels so, and so does my chase, and so I start to wear out. My endurance does have a stopping point it seems.
Eventually, I end up on my knees in the middle of the road. It's uncertain how I got like that in the first place, but suddenly I realize I'm too tired to run anymore. Great Giratina, I can't even stand. Maybe I might even black out. I'm starting to wish I'd kept Teleport. Gave up the move as soon as I evolved, and now I wish I'd not relied on my siblings to teleport me anywhere we needed to afterward. If I'd kept it, I could have just teleported to the turn points of the path and probably caught up with them... Too late now.
Long after my weariness is gone, I find I can't force myself back up. Physically, I am perfectly capable. Mentally, I am crushed. I know I can't save them. For once, they're on their own. That frightens me, because they always have me around to help, and, by Mew, to fetch the help for them when they're too Dialga-be-darned proud to get it themselves.
A little part of me sighs and folds over into sadness. It's difficult to trust them to care for themselves. Partially because, well, I need them just as much as they need me... and honestly, they don't even realize they need me. So in the end, I can only conclude...
No one needs me, and there's no one left I can rely on.

Sparkle

“Please, tell me this is one of your exaggerated jokes that scare people to death.”
Lotus's gaze bores right into mine. “This is nothing like one of those.”
Anguished, I feel a twinge of something between excitement, betrayal, and... is it unease? It occurs to me that I might actually be afraid of learning who my father is, as much as I am curious. I also wonder who my mother is, but Lotus never said he knew her. Still, I feel like he's anything but trustworthy at the moment.
“Why, why did you never tell me before?” I lean warily against an old oak and sigh.
He looks back at the trees and closes his eyes. “I said, the opportunity never presented itself.”
“And you have dozens of secrets, just this? That you've never told anyone? How on Earth do you find these thing out?”
“You'd be surprised at how much is hidden away from the world. This place just a forest of secrets. How I find them squirreled away underneath the roots is for me to know and nobody else to figure out.” His arm practically waves the topic away dismissively. What? This is not the Lotus I've lived with for the past four years. “In any case, that's not relevant right now, not to me. I have a question for you, my dear Sparkle.” I look at him warily. No longer does he look innocent in my eyes. Now, with such a ponderous secret kept from me for so long, I'm a little concerned to the motives of anything he might do, or ask me to. “Dear” is a title the Five and Joy often use for each other. Calling me it is raising me up to their level of intimacy, and thus a flattery of a discreet nature. What does he want from me?
“Will you forgive me? I can't... I never meant it to be like this.” A semblance of his common ingenuous demeanor returns with his admonishment of regret. “You learn one or two, keep them hidden as they always are, no one guesses. You figure out a few more, and it feels like you know exactly what people think. I looked for them, kept them, kept them hidden, at first just for the sense of knowing it gave me. Then... some of them were harmful. They could hurt if told, or not told at the right time. I never said anything about your father because it was one of the most pain-inflicting secrets I have. I only was trying to keep others from getting hurt. Can you forgive me for going the wrong way about doing that?”

I am torn between forgiveness and hatred. Making a positive or negative decision always agonizes me. I can never see “Yes” or “No” but Psycho or Dasher. “Of course I'll forgive you!” Psycho would say. “How could I ever not?” Dasher, on the other hand; “HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!?! I”LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!”
I hate picking sides, because someone, myself included, will always see me as siding with one or the other of my brothers. “She didn't forgive him,” they'll say, “She's just like her brother Dasher.” Heck, I bet if they've figured out I'm gone by now, everyone's going to compare my disappearance to Dasher's storming of yesterday. But that's not my issue.

Can I really forgive Lotus?
A scenario runs through my head. I have a shoulder-angel Psycho, and a shoulder-devil Dasher.
Dasher twirls his pitchfork. “He's guilty as an egg-thieving Sneazel. He doesn't deserve your forgiveness for this one, little sis.”
Psycho strums his harp rather discordantly and gives Dasher a withering look. “Oh come now, he was just trying to save others from the pain that will come of telling the secret.”
With a raspberry, Dasher replies, “No pain, no gain. 'Sides, he never mentioned what kind of pain it could cause. I bet he's bluffing.” He prods Psy with the fork and gets a good jump out of it. “Watch where you swing that thing!” blusters Psycho. He flutters his wings and accidentally flicks Dasher with one. “Oops. Oh well.” Dasher gives a look of cool perturbance.
“In any case,” Psy continues, “forgiveness is a sign of having good character. How sad is the person who knows not how to forgive.” I wince at another cacophonous strum of the harp.
“Quiet that thing Psycho,” I begin, “You both have good points. I would be heartless not to forgive him, but it's not like Lotus necessarily should be forgiven in the first place. So, you've given me an idea.” They both look eagerly at me, hoping I'll take their side. “I will forgive Lotus.”
“YES!” shouts the Psycho-angel. He give another ear-splitting thrum of his annoying harp. Dasher throws his fork at the ground temperamentally. “But I'll do it only if he tells me more about our father, as a way for him to sort of atone from the way he's wronged us.” Dasher cheers up and raspberries Psycho again.
“But forgiveness ought be unconditional!” Psycho-angel admonishes. “Only a weak heart will demand such sultry gain!”
“Sorry, Psy. Your rational is invalid here. I've made my decision.”

I focus back on the real world after my metal conversation has been completed. It occurs to me that the real world sucks, and that I might be going just a teensy-bit crackers. Oh well.
Lotus looks at me expectantly.
"I've decided... I'll forgive you Lotus. On one condition."
"And what would that be?"
I want you to tell me more about my father."
After considering a moment, Lotus nods slightly. "Alright. That I can do."

Sparkle

“Where do I start?” Lotus muses. “There's so much I could tell you...”
We sit sedentary under a young oak tree. I am too tired to walk for the moment, and it's not as if we knew where to go in the first place. Anyways, it's easier to hear Lotus confess when I'm not running around getting caught on branches. Lotus himself seems glad to rest from walking as well, even if he doesn't say anything about it. I get the feeling that every step I took jarred his legs with pain or something, because he's lost his clenched countenance as soon as we'd stopped.
Ever so quietly, Lotus starts to speak again... “I suppose I'll start with his name. It's the first thing you want to learn about someone, right? He was named Griffin, but was known to friends as Riff. A Gentle Gallade, and remembered well for his good voice and the fact that he could have been the sixth one of the Five.” My eyes widen of their own violation at this. “His story starts right at the beginning, with mine, and the beginning of Joy's journey...

Once upon a time...
Joy began her journey with her rival Gavin in Twinleaf Town. She chose a Chimchar for her starter, and named him Bright. Shortly before she left for the first Gym, her mother gave her three other Pokemon; two Kirlia, Twirla and Riff, and a disagreeable old Empoleon named Rascal. Right after that, she caught a troublesome Budew (that's me, naturally), and a fierce Shinx called Spark. Thus, she started her journey already with a full party.

She never actually caught any Pokemon after us, not until she beat the Champion and needed other things to occupy her time. There was plenty enough trouble from just us six the first few Gyms, and later on it was hard for her to bear switching us out. We started out a mismatched group, all of us at odds with each other. Bright and Spark were willing enough to be helpful to Joy, but the rest of us were naughty misfits. Rascal was already very high-leveled., and I don't think he ever actually listened to Joy until after we got Volkner out of the way. Twirla was moody, and would be pleasant or monstrous to Joy on a whim. Me? I recall a few times when Joy woke up to something problematic that I may have been the cause of... but that's a whole other book.
Riff was horridly shy at first. Joy was nice enough, but for some reason, he found her intimidating. She couldn't rely on either of the Kirlia or Rascal to be able to battle. So, for a while, she just stuck with us other three. That is, until Fantina.
The first time Joy battled her, she lost. At that point, we were used to having type advantages against the Gym leaders. I worked great against Roark, and Bright had even evolved in our skirmish with Gardenia. Come to think of it, I became Roselia shortly afterward, and Spark a Luxio a little before. But, even so, we were little match for that lover of Ghosts. Mismagius brought us all down. To cope, Joy made her first efforts to win Twirla's and Riff's heart. She needed to make use of the Shadow Ball her mother had taught them. Slowly, Twirla and Riff grew on her, and her on them. They trained in that one tower, on that one route, you know? I forgot the name, it's been so long... that place with all the dead. I disliked it vaguely. Of course, a new schism developed when Twirla evolved. She had pledged to remain a Kirlia all her life, simply because Riff wished to. He found the choice between Gallade and Gardevoir so difficult, he didn't want to make it at all. But Joy had battled a young man grieving over the loss of his most beloved Pokemon to a group rising in power called Team Galactic. At the end, Twirla must have leveled up again, because a brilliant light took her, and she began to evolve. Typically, Joy would have snapped her out of it... but the man was so moved by the event that she couldn't bear to. It would smother the little hope Joy could already see coming back into his eyes.

Twirla was outraged when she come to her senses, coming to the conclusion that she could not trust Joy. She didn't help with the Gym battle either, and Bright ended up finishing Fantina off because she wouldn't listen. This correlates right back to Riff, because he felt so sorry for Twirla. They were very close, you know. Since she had evolved, he only felt it right that he should as well. Due to his under-level problem, and because training to level thirty would take time, he simply took Joy's Dawn Stone and became a Gallade, and convinced Twirla to forgive Joy. What had happened, had happened for the better. If he had never done that, I get the feeling Twirla would have never forgiven Joy. We owed him a lot because of it...

As we got past Maylene and moved on to Pastoria, something must have happened to Joy. For all I knew, she mutated or something, changed DNA. About that time, Joy was able to figure out what we would say. Vivid is the memory of the day in which I told her “Bless you” for sneezing. She understood what I said, and fainted dead away. Spark had to coax Rascal to spray some water and revive her. Rascal liked Spark so very much, and still does.”

I don't move at all. While this is vaguely about my father certainly the first anyone's told me about him, though confusing is many respects, this is also the first time I've ever heard the tale of Joy's original journey. A few little facts keep gnawing at me. If my father was one of Joy's Pokemon, how is it that I was wild? Why isn't Riff around anymore? Is there a reason for no one ever speaking of what happened in that journey specifically...? Until now that is.
I also notice that Lotus is a very strange story-teller. He skips topics so much, it's almost not a tale of, um, Riff at all, but many people and things.

“Finally, we all settled down and became friends. Joy took great pains to hide her ability to speak to us. The funny thing was, she couldn't hear Pokemon she wasn't familiar with. Just the ones she hung around with a lot, the ones she kept in pokeballs with her.
As with everything, the peaceful interlude didn't last forever. As a hard-core battling team, with the exception of Rascal not participating, we had a good run for a bit. It was right before the final Gym that our world practically exploded in our faces.”

Spark

Joy slouches on the couch and flips through the musty tome disinterestedly. It was Twirla's idea to look through old books on regional legends, to see if anything about Darkrai came up. There was a false alarm where Lopy thought she found something, but it just was a tale about how Cresselia could neutralize a Darkrai's power over dreams. Obviously, there's not a Cresselia readily around the place.
“Legendaries; Mythical, Mystical, and Elusive. What kinda junk is that?” It's the title of Joy's book. I don't think much of it. The book seems boring, too long, and frankly smells funny. Maybe it's moldy or something, I dunno.
Joy peeks over the top of her book. “It's good enough reading, I would suppose. There's a little too much information to sort through, though. It's got myths from Kanto, all the way to somewhere called Kalos. Hey, we haven't been there before. Think we should visit some time?”
“Eh. One thing at a time. Have you got anything yet?” My tail flicks with impatience.
Joy gives a mild shrug and a weary look. “I'm still stumped. There's a few repeats of famous Darkrai living in Sinnoh, but I can't find anything on the species in general. In fact, the whole book is more about tales of Legendaries than them themselves.” She sighs and scans another page. “This still feels pretty useless.”
“I know what you mean.” Lopy intones, looking through a myth book of her own. That one smells funky too. Then again, they all came from that basement bookshelf, so maybe they all smell like funky basement. “Why don't you help look too, Spark?”
“No hands,” I say smugly. “Best excuse.” I was not about to stick my muzzle into one a them funky-smelling things. Besides, the others seemed to be able to figure them out better than me.
She twitches an ear in an almost annoyed manner. “Lotus would, and he's got no hands either.”
A bit of me feels twitches guiltily at the mention of Lotus. Shoulda gone in after him, even if I was concerned about Roku. “Hush about him,” my mouth runs sharply on it's own, “And he's got vines besides. A tail can't turn pages, Lopy.” The tail in question twitches up again. It's hard to keep from bristling.
Lopy doesn't pay attention to my attitude, thank goodness. “True enough. Still, you could make an effort of some kind.”
Joy flips a couple of pages forward and drops her jaw dumbly. “OH MY GIRATINA!” she bursts out.
“Gesundheit,” Rascal mutters absently.
“That wasn't a sneeze. That, my dear old friend, is an exclamation of realization,” Joy corrects.
He mumbles something to himself, flipping through a book of his own. “Sounded like a sneeze to me.”

“Call it a sneeze of inspiration,” Twirla admonishes, “but what did you find? Does Darkrai have a secret aversion to cake or something?”
We all give her a blank stare. “Cake..?” I ask. “Where did you pull cake from?”
“A hat. Besides, the cake is a lie.” After a minute of awkward stares, she shrugs uncomfortably and motions for Joy to speak on. “Forget that. What's the scoop?”

“Well, it wasn't about Darkrai.” Of course not. When is it we find exactly what we look for? Never. “But, I think it might hold substantial interest in our situation.” Whatever. “It's Moon Shadow!”
“What? Gimme that.” I grasp the book in my jaws, none too roughly, and yank it from Joy's hand. Once I set it on the floor so that I can see it, I give the page a good long stare. It's a lot easier to ignore the fusty smell, with the thought that it might actually turn up some useful information.

Of the pseudo-legendary Pokemon, one must agree that Zoroark and Zorua are the most elusive and most electable to be named as true legends. These Dark foxes...

The thing goes on and on in this most annoying manner, arguing over whether the Professors should name them Legendaries or not. Blah blah blah, yak yak yak. I pick up a couple of other lines that pop out at me; They hold power over illusions, disguising their lair so none may discover them. If need be, they take the form of another Pokemon or a human, so that others may not discover their identity. Many covet them for this particular ability. It may also come in useful when battling, as taking the form of a Fighting Pokemon may incite the use of Psychic moves by the opponent, which do not affect Dark types in the least.

“You can't just take things like that Spark!” Lopy protests. Twirla gives a wry smile, understanding my haste and tension perfectly as always.
“Get used to it Bugs Bunny, Darkrai doesn't feel the same way.” I round on Joy, fur quivering on end slightly from disappointment. “You can have that book back. Too stuck-up sounding. I suppose it would make sense that Moon Shadow would be a Zoroark, but how does this help us?”
She reaches over me to grab it, a wry smile on her face. “You never know what details cause you to miss the big picture, Spark,” Joy-joy murmurs as she starts flipping through it again.
An involuntary snort works it's way outta me. “Admonish your endless wisdom on someone who cares, Joy. This information's useless. The only interesting outcome of this, is that Twirla's put me in the mood for cake...”

Eh, not yet going to post frequently. Still nervous, but I just had the feeling I need to update this. Don't worry, I'm still working on it in OpenOffice...

First off; OH MY GOSH, YOU READ IT, AND YOU LIKE IT OK! YES, MY SECOND REAL COMMENT!

Next; It not vanish. I just hid it from you. HA.
Gaps in logic are fun.
P.S. Sorry about Lotus's tale taking so long; I hadn't figured it would cover more than one post... Now it's covering three, and I'm even making them long posts...

Sparkle

Cradling Lotus oh-so-gently, I plead for him to finish the story. His eyes droop with exhaustion, and he absently lips one of his petals. It seemed rather akin to sucking his thumb, and kind of weirded me out a little. Besides, he can't finish the tale if he has his mouth full. “Please Lotus, what happened at the last Gym?”

He stirs a little and shifts in my arms. Taking his petal out of his mouth, he picks the story up again. “It happened before the Gym, Sparkle. We were on our way to Volkner from our last Gym battle in Snowpoint city. Sunnyshore was a very long way from there, and Joy didn't have any Pokemon with Fly on her obviously. So, we hiked the entire way, and came to rest at Lake Acuity. Peaceful place, nice quiet waters and shady trees. Me and Bright played a skipping game with some pebbles, and the others just relaxed. Next thing we know, there's a Galactic goon by the lake. We had tried to keep away from those guys for the whole of our journey, because we didn't understand what they were after, and there were so many rumors of them stealing other people's Pokemon. So it shocked us when suddenly they swarmed the lake, telling Joy to scram and find somewhere else to play. They were on business.” A bitter tone coats the word 'business'.
“Joy hadn't the foggiest what was going on, and I was frankly annoyed at these people interrupting our revelry. The funny costumes the people wore didn't make me any happier, and just added to the weirdness. Things went from strange to scarey when one goon told another to “bring the bomb”. If Joy had been confused before, she was freaking out now. They were going to blow the whole place sky high! A Galactic with blue hair muttered something crazy about a being called “Azelf,” and we made a run for it. There was no way we wanted to get exploded, not for some maniac's pleasure. Joy planned to call Officer Jenny on them as soon as we could get to a Pokemon Center for the use of a phone. We made it half of the way to Veilstone before Twirla screamed that Riff wasn't there. Just then, the lake exploded behind us in a cascade of water and a plume of oily black smoke.
We ran back to the lake, as fast as we could manage. Already tired out from the first dash to Veilstone, and only human, Joy eventually was too exhausted to go on. Don't think she just gave up though. Her best attribute is persistence, and didn't stop until she couldn't breathe anymore. Well, not exactly, but she tried, didn't she? That makes a difference I think. Rascal tired out too, being as old as he was, even then. When Joy had collapsed, Twirla took charge. A very respectable authority she can be, too, if she has a mind to be. Staying behind with Spark to make sure Joy-joy and Rascal stayed safe (Who knew if those goons would make an appearance, again, or what would happen if they did), she sent Bright to Veilstone for medical help, and me to check out what happened to the lake. Through messily-wiped away tears, she told me to keep an eye out for Riff. Actually, that was the whole goal of my mission.”

“Are you telling me,” I ask, “that my father was blown up?”
“Not exactly how it happened. Just let me tell the story the full way, and you'll get it,” he clarifies, sort of.
"Oh, and I guess you wouldn't exist if he had exploded, Sparkle."

“This was actually the first time since Joy had caught me that I was completely left to my own devices, to get the task done without guidance or help. I ran to the lake, but was unsure of what I was supposed to do when I got there. Since you don't much care for battles, least of all with Joy-joy directing them, you wouldn't know how dependent a Pokemon can get to following direct orders.
But I couldn't let that stop me, could I? I had to find good old Riff.
When I had finally come to the lake, dodging trainers on the path and keeping a lookout for goons, it was pretty much evaporated and evacuated. Like us, Team Galactic had sense not to stay and get blown up themselves, but detonate from afar. They had gone far, I'd guessed, but just out of the explosion zone. Who knew when they'd come back? It would be soon, so they could get whatever they'd come for.
The lake in question had once been clear blue waters, serene depths, and very green grass. Now, it was rendered down to a muddy gorge in the ground, with a few Magikarp flopping feebly in the puddles. I felt sorry for those Magikarp, but they would hold out. Magikarp always do. Huh, maybe we underestimate them a little. But, there was no sign of Riff. I shouted for him, called for him to come out if he was still alright. “Riff, please be OK! Come out, come out, Twirla's worked into a real state!” I'd hoped that he wouldn't have gotten too far into the explosion, since it mostly just covered the lake and less of the surrounding shore are forest. Just as I was afraid that he was... gone, there was a reply; “Lotus? Is that you?” It was faint, and came from the edges of a rather scorched part of the forest.
I rushed over immediately to the summons. What I found was only partially what I had expected and hoped.”

Dasher

Pah. Who cares? I don't need anybody. I've got myself.
The forest continued to vex me. Long ago, I'd moved away from the river, to wander more and see if I could find a way home. It was both disappointing and relieving that I hadn't encountered anyone else yet. Loneliness was a dull ache in my chest along with Psycho's invective, but at least there was no-one else around to tell me I sucked. “No one wants you, Dasher.” I can't believe Lotus would say that. He's not that kind of guy. Sometime, I wonder if Lotus isn't mentally unstable. It's surprising that he's a member of the Five, if you never saw him battle. After all, he's got the mind of a child and speaks everything on his mind, which wouldn't be very much as I see it. Then again, there are those times when he's more wise than he ought to be...

The trees seem to have contorted into slight curlycues and swirls. This only add to the creepy-forest-in-imaginary-realm look. I wonder if the trees want me obliterated too. Eh, most likely not. But still, it's freaky how weird this is all becoming. Well, oh great-and-powerful Universe, you done it again. Made good ole' Dasher uncomfortable, and messed with the world to some degree of insanity. Well, what the Heatran.
Hey, that's a new one. Psycho would like to hear that.
If he didn't hate me.

A few more paths crop up in the wilderness. I ignore them and walk on, since the last one I followed didn't end in a very nice way. They loop in crazy ways too. Who would ever make a road so pointless? Someone off their rocker, as psychotic as a Psyduck. Who though? Eh, it doesn't matter I suppose. I just need to get out of here. The real question, is how. I've begun to suspect that this whole place is imaginary, which makes getting away from it really tricky. Maybe it'll be like Alice and Wonderland; I just fall asleep out here, and I'll wake up at home. But, perhaps I won't even wake up at all. One of those Pokemon who hate me will pop up and kill me in my sleep. Good going, Dasher. Come up with yet another reason not to sleep, when you're sleep deprived enough already. I mean, it's been perhaps a day and a half since I've slept, and then that was only for like, four hours. I'm driving myself nuts.

My ponderous stupor of thinking is shaken off when I see Twirla drop down from a tree in front of me. I know, I know, my siblings think of her as “Mother” since we don't have one. But the authority of the name has never sat well with me. Anyways, she doesn't look happy. Actually, she scowls for a minute before taking off into the trees before me.
Dialga-darn her. What else is there to do? I put up chase. She looked furtive, like there was something to hide. For all I knew, she knew the way back.

Of course, Twirla's one of them. The Five never lose, and this is no exception. The dash is barely over before it begins. She hopelessly outstrips me, leaping and rolling to avoid the trees, which crowd in to become closer. Occasionally looking over her shoulder, she makes quick gain over the turbid grass. Me? I run after, tripping all the way. The race ends abruptly when I don't see a tree right next to and behind the one I jump awkwardly to dodge. My head makes immediate contact just as I realize, OH MY GIRATINA, IT'S A TREE! I hope this doesn't become a habit, because I swear I blacked out for ten seconds afterward. Twirla vanished in that time, and I received yet another headache. Lovely.

I look around irritably to see nothing more than empty forest, right as it all were before me.
With a double-take, I realize there's something larger in the surrounding mists. Woozily, I stand and totter over to the outline.

It's a tree, and very similar the the Gaia tree at that. It's about the same size and shape, except it has various characteristics reminiscent of the funny trees here. Smoother bark, and there's some largish purplish leaves scattered the ground around it. If I look up, I can't see the top through the mist.
Very differently than the Gaia tree, one also finds a small pool of water in between the base of a fork in the roots. I draw to this water, not really sure why. It's motionless in the still of the air. Leaning forward, I see myself reflected perfectly in the water. Even being a Gardevoir, which is disappointing to say the least, my height is my vanity. If I'm not all that cool, at least I tower over others. Particularly Psycho. Thinking of him hurts a little, so I dismiss the thought.
I almost run right back from the water when it ripples and distorts my reflection. Honestly, I almost expected Rascal or someone to jump out an tell my how awful I was. But... no one did.

Instead, the view reflected in the puddle shifts as it clears again to something entirely different. My pulse quickens to see trees of forest near the mansion, not the twisted place here. Not only that, but there's Sparkle and Lotus. Sparkle leans against a tree, covered in tiny scratches of the kind Psycho comes out of the forest with if he's run through some bushes or something. She draws into herself, staring right back at me, strangely defiant and afraid. Lotus is cradled carefully in her arms. He isn't looking too hot either, with his eyes half-closed as flaccidly as that. It doesn't seem like like he's really aware of anything outside of his own head.
Sparkle steps back from the tree measuredly. Whatever the view comes from steps forward once, mirroring her.

“Dasher?” she breathes.

Psycho

After my disturbing line of thoughts, I feel kind of depressed. It's also agitating me that bad thing like that can happen so easily. Blaming myself vaguely, but not directly for the problem, I lay on the path and think haphazardly of anything that comes to mind. I've long since ceased to function.
It's too lonely out here.
I wish someone would come and relieve me of the silence that came after I stopped running. Anyone, even Spark. I like Spark just fine, but she has a habit of making me feel like I ought to find another place to be. This sentiment gives me a feeling of deja-vu, like this has happened before. Not Spark's awkwardness, but the lonely feeling.

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

“You tink we need to blast more water at 'im? 'E's out cold now,” the first voice chirps.
“Better tan 'im rushing at us again. Tat was scarey. If'n we wake 'im up, wat might 'e do this time?” another one replies.
“Nope, 'e be fine, not rush us again. I'm telling ya, 'e's gotten right Darkened, 'e 'as. It would be tah only good reason.”
“Meybe 'e's just crazy.”
“Pshaw! Lookee tis, 'e be fine!” A gurgle precludes a sloshing sound.

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

“It's raining this morning, Joy. Doesn't that mean it's a bad time to go out and train?” I stare out the Pokemon Center's window forlornly. I don't much care to go out in the rain.
Dasher gives me a funny face, sticking out his tongue and waggling his hands. “It's always raining in Pastoria. Forget that, I wanna evolve!”
Joy smiles quietly at us. She looks younger than she does nowadays. I think it's the lack of height, since she went through such a growth spurt in the last couple of years. Complained about growing out of her favorite jacket, I remember.
“Weathering the weather, rain or shine, is a good way to start becoming stronger,” she tells me.
“I'll weather the fiercest storms, and they'll call me, Dasher the Destructive!” my brother admonishes, pumping his arms like a Machop showing of it's muscles. I giggle convulsively at the sight.
“For now, we're kind of wimpy. There's not any muscle to show off, is there?” I ask.
“Oh, I'll gain some muscle when I'm Gallade,” he rebukes.

Water rushes over me again and I'm sputtering once more. Full Moon seems concerned by something else, distracted. Silently, he releases the memories and leaves just as abruptly as he came. I pry open my eyes after scrubbing the sleepy-stuff and water off of them. I find that I'm sitting in the forest, definitely the forest near the mansion to my utmost relief. It's not a part I recognize, but I know it's in the same forest because the trees are of about the same species, some kind of tree I never bothered to learn the name of. A pair of Ducklett stare open-beaked at me. It takes a minute of staring from both of us before they burst out with a strange wail, “Bwaaaaah!” and hug each other tightly.
“Let me guess. I was possessed. Again.”
One of them stops the crying to shove their partner away. Eying me cautiously, the Ducklett replies, “Wat? Wat's tat mean? You w'ere Darkened. Right?” They take a step back, as if at any moment I might transform into a snarling monster.
I consider it a bit. “If by Darkened, you mean I was taken over by Darkrai, then yes.”
It turns haughtily to the other. “Lookee! I told ya 'e was just Darkened. Not crazy, nope.”
“Meh. I've been 'earing tis time, no-one gotten Darkened tis year. 'Sides, tah Darkened don't attack 'less you attack them first. Dey just wander around all funny, looking.”
“Whatever you two are talking about, there's certainly been possessed Pokemon. Me and Bright were taken over yesterday. And, we do attack when possessed, but I don't ever want to.”
One of them swings their wing in an airy manner – the one who knew I was possessed, or Darkened or whatever. I have the idea they aren't paying much attention to me, as compared their quarrel. “I know, somet'ing funny is going on. Tis just isn't the way t'ese t'ings are supposed to go.”
“'Ow would ya know? Oy, we 'aven't been alive the five years to see anot'er Darkened Days.”
“True, but mommy says it's all funny this time, and s'e is always rig't.”
“Meh. Anyways, sorry Mister tat we soaked you. You were looking at us all funny, and it looked like you were going to murder us or somet'ing.”
“No pressure,” I say cheerfully. “I'm just glad you got me out of that mess. I would hate to have attacked someone. You know, that water worked wonders. I think it distracted Full Moon real well. It seemed like there might something else that he was distracted by though... Oh well.”
They Duckletts bob their heads in unison. The one who proclaimed me as Darkened steps forward. “You're welcome for 'elping, even if we didn't intend it like that at first. I'm Miley. Tis be my 'atchmate, Cygnus.” The other one give another bob. “And you are...?”

I shift to stand up. “I'm Psycho.”
They give a try at pronouncing it. “T-t-t-zzy-cah?”
“Psycho.”
“Z-zah-cah?”
“Not quite.”
Cygnus completely, maybe intentionally butchers it this time. “Zy-cah-blakawakyat-amka.”
“Hmm... Most people call me Psy for short, if that's any easier.”
“Ta-zy,” Miley attempts. Cygnus swats her mischievously with the edge of his wing. “Nope, it's Ty. Like in Tykic types.”
“Close enough,” I confirm. I don't much mind the difficulty with my name. At least I'm not alone anymore, and that horrible living nightmare was just a dream.
But if that was just a dream, where are my siblings for real?

Loppily

Joy-joy was getting immensely frustrated. With a scowl, she flipped through every single book on Legendaries a second, and then a third time. Meanwhile, Spark is partway into her third licking-bath. I wonder if Joy takes notice of the vague amusement etched onto Spark's features. Certainly, Spark has no qualms over the prolonged search.
“I'm sorry Twirla, but this just doesn't help anyone!” Joy blurts out, slapping Legendaries for Dummies down onto the coffee table temperamentally. “They bother with all the big names, Dialga, Zekrom, Kyogre, but completely ignore the minor ones. Where's Shaymin? Manaphy? It's Darkrai we need though.”
Twirla pats her on the shoulder. “There's got to be something. We can't give up hope on them now, can we?” By "them", she probably refers to everyone that's possessed. Maybe Sparkle too, though who knows if she'll come back at all. We sort of skirt around the topic now, since Twirla's getting edgy. After all, she's practically missing her whole family. Well, not quite.

“The books say nothing, and say it real loud," Spark grumbles. "I say, let's just take Lopy's idea of staying up all night.”
Joy gives Spark a rebuking glance. “You forget Dark Void.”
“Dark-wha now?” Spark stumbles.
“Dark Void,” Twirla defines, “is in essence, a Hypnosis in an orbular form, with a much better chance of hitting, and potential devivatory effects if combined with Darkrai's ability Nightmare and perhaps the use of Dream Eater. If my memory stands correct, it is the signature move of Darkrai.”
Spark shrugs and goes back to her bath. “Mmm, wonderful, yet another advantage Full Moon has against us. Speaking of against us, what he after?”
“Who ever knows what a Legendary wants?” I point out tiredly. All I want is Bright back, Giratina curse whatever madness that crazy Darkrai is after."
Spark pauses her conversing to lick her tail's star to satisfactory cleanliness, which is no different than it's previous state. “Fair enough. But they aren't senseless.”

“Their reasoning is as a cryptic a thing to find as their weaknesses.” Rascal finally speaks up, smoothing his beard. With his Quiet nature and habit of fading into the background, I'd almost forgotten he was there, standing behind the couch and reading over Joy's shoulder. “They can choose to reason as a typical Pokemon or human would. Just as often they take a more alien mind frame. Like they think in another language.” Twirla shifts postion on the couch to give Joy a hug. She nods wisely as Rascal states this.
Joy-joy only looks more depressed. “This doesn't help either. I know that Full Moon might very well have a different logistical perspective. We need to know how to keep him away.” She picks up the book again and flips to a random page.

I sigh and twiddle with my ear fluff. Out of the corner of my eye, something moves, and I barely hear a whisper on the floor. Almost silent, but not quite. When I turn, Golly is peeking out from around the armchair I rest in. She is puckering her lips funny, so I suspect she's not going to volunteer a solution to the problem. Actually, I'd say she carrying bad news. I give her a wave, and she waves back uncertainly. It mustn't be good news at all, if she isn't up to being social.

She glides over behind the couch and settles to stand next to Rascal. Joy looks up at her, slightly perplexed. “Yes, Golly?”
Golly clears he throat a little, delaying. For a few minutes, she looks off into space and opens her mouth as if to start, but can never quite get the words out of her mouth. Her loquacious personality is suppressed by something. Finally, she looks back to Joy and speaks.
“...I was is the kitchen, readying some lunch for later, since regardless of disaster, we need to eat. Anyways, I saw a Lucario slip off into the woods when I looked out the kitchen window. Since there's only one Lucario here, I'd wondered if I was just imagining things, or if Roku was gone too.”
Spark ceases her bath with a stretch. “It's all good. Roku's napping right on the couch over ther-” she blinks incredulously for a few seconds, flicking her tail strangely. It gets to the point where her tail is practically thrashing.

The small couch, the loveseat that Roku was sleeping on earlier earlier is empty. Strikingly, undeniably, empty.

Sparkle

“I found Riff alright. I found him lying under a charred bush, half conscious... his leg wasn't right... it was a nightmare. All I call recall with clarity from then how I wanted to look away.”

Mentally, I flinch. Gore wasn't something I'd expect from this tale, and certainly had not wanted. Even if I first though Riff has blown up. Well, he still was blown up, but not exactly... For once, I am glad Lotus never really goes into detail, just roundabout bush-beating.

“I was scared, Riff was in unimaginable pain, and to make things worse, Team Galactic had already begun to creep back into the area. They headed for some pocketed cave where the bottom of the lake once was, but as far as I could tell, it was only a matter of time before they found Riff as well. “Stay where you are,” I said, “I'll get help. Joy will know what to do.”
If I thought the run to the lake was nerve-wracking, you can only imagine how it was on the way back with that grim experience fresh in my head.

"There's more. Much more to the tale. But I fear our time may be running short, so I shall wrap this up. When I got Joy-joy and everyone back to the lake, he was gone. Just like that. I saw one footprint in the dust that made me suspect... a Gardevoir. You see, Riff had fallen in love with a wild Gardevoir a few seasons back, and she had been following us. I had only caught him with her once, catching her name at the same time; Laurel. It was the first secret I learned. With the footprint and his absence, I tried to tell the others that Riff had probably been taken in by the kindly thing, but they thought I was stressed from the... and then, they had never known that he courted a wild Gardevoir, so they thought I had been hallucinating or something. We searched the forest for him, regardless of my account of what happened. Officer Jenny and the Pokemon Center and the whole communities around the Lake were noted of the missing Gallade. Eventually, months later, we gave up. I told them he was still alive, he was really, but Rascal told me I needed to face the facts; he was gone.

"We never exactly forgot about Riff. It was just that the subject was never spoken of. And so vanished the welcoming Gallade who had been such a good friend.”

He stops for a minute, catching his breath. Something still is funny about this story, forgetting how abrupt and messed up it gets at the end. “Where do I come in? If he is gone, how can I be his daughter?”
Lotus gives a wry smile. His eyelids droop in fatigue slightly and he lips a petal, but still speaks to me. “That was through eventual deductive reasoning on my part. First off, a few days after your capture, Roku remarked that you aura was vaguely familiar. Like Twirla's, but not quite. Twirla's aura was similar to Riff's quite a bit, was what a Lucario we battled long before the incident said.”
“We're practically the same species; wouldn't that account for it?” I reason.
“Species never accounts as much for aura than individuality and parentage, with the exception of Legends, or so Roku has told me. Then there's Psycho. Even being Bashful of nature, he still acted a good deal like Gentle Riff. Never able to really to understand the subtle. Dasher showed Riff's enthusiasm in everything, before evolution ruined him. And you, you walk with the same grace he once did.”
“That's still not proof,” I argue. “You sound an awful lot like a madman right now. Crazy conspiracy theories, and all that.”

“What if I also said that there was an old Power Bracer that Riff used to wear in Joy's bag?” Lotus says slyly.
“I don't know what I'd say to that.”
Lotus looks up at me benignly. “I showed it to Roku once. He thought the lingering aura felt practically like Psycho's, and Psycho is the most like Riff out of all of you.”
With a sigh, I run my fingers through my hair, a habit that Mother (well, make that Twirla), does when she's disturbed. I guess I must have picked it up from her. “You're not going to take no for an answer. You are convinced this Riff fellow is our father.”
“Was," he corrects. "We never knew what happened to him.”
“Dialga darn that!” I huff, “Does Roku know? From what you've said, he's been in on your investigations.”
Lotus shakes his head. “Nuh-uh. It's surprising, how no-one questions anyone they think might be crazy.”
This takes a bit to digest. “Do you play the part of the ignorant fool on purpose?”
“Ignorant fool? I've long since stopped wondering why everyone else thought so strangely. Not even my closest friends think like me. Perhaps the world is crazy...” Yeah right, Lotus. Everyone else is insane, and you're the only one with common sense. Nice try. Still, I think he's being genuine here. If I am to believe Lotus, Riff is my father. Lotus himself has been steadily dropping off further and further into some state of dreaming. He seems really, really, tired. I wouldn't mind a nap myself. I guess we could just sit down and rest under the tree for a bit.
Something shakes the brush to my right. Instead of sitting down to sleep, I stand up taller and wonder wearily what it is. Oh my Giratina, it'd better not...
Dasher steps into view from behind the bracken. His eyes have taken a vacant glazing, and are luckily not aimed at me. My breath catches in my throat. Uh-oh.
Slowly, I move back. Maybe I can slip out of here before he notices me. How ironic, that my brother may come at the moment I least what him to, instead of earlier when I was searching for him! Silently, I send a plea to Palkia. Why did you put him in the same place as me now? As obviously expected, there's no answer. And, in place of the silent retreat I hope for, my gown brushes with a whisper against the tree. Instantly, Dasher darts to look at me. No, no, no. I take another step back. He takes one step forward.

“Dasher?” I gasp out. He gives no reply.

Loppily

I just kind of hang back, and watch the show that comes next. What to do about it? For now, nothing.
Spark stiffens after a look at the empty couch. Her fur bristles and sparks at the ends. She looks so strange, with all her fur standing up like that. Spark may not be empathetic exactly, but she like Roku better than most Pokemon, excluding the Five. At the least, I've never seem her give him a snarly comment. So, there she stands, seething a minute over the injustice. Belatedly, she curses. “Dialga-darn you, Darkrai. And may Giratina choose to take your side to help you when I tear you apart for this! You've broken the last straw!” She lowers her fur, and makes a magnificent leap for the broken window. A magnificent leap stopped short when Rascal grabs a hold of her tail star.

Flailing like a beached Magikarp, Spark squirms to get her tail free of the vise Rascal's wings prove to be. “Gerroff! Rascal, I've got to-”
“As much as you need to find Lotus and Bright, and as much as you so subtly want to pay back Full Moon for this, you're staying here.” His cool authority seems to me as that of one who has weathered many things. Going through one more trial will not deter him. With a grinding of teeth, Spark ceases struggling, and turns to face him. She gives a snort of annoyance. “Please tell me you're joking. Why are you the one to force me to stay behind?”
Rascal sneaks an approving glace Joy's way. Joy, by the way, is biting her lip and looking at the floor. “I'm keeping you here for Joy's sake. It's not fair of you to force her to make a choice.”
“What possible choice is there in the matter?” drones Spark tonelessly.
“Joy may have mentioned it earlier. Something along the lines of, 'is it fair to risk the lives of more to save a few?' If you would go out there, Joy would have to antagonize about following you to keep you safe, in which turn we would all follow her. This would put a lot of Pokemon at risk.”
For once, Spark is both quiet and solemn. She looks up at the rest of us blankly. “You guys wouldn't have to come. This is my own feud, and you wouldn't understand it.”

“What do you mean, Spark?” Twirla avers softly. Her gaze sweeps up from the floor, and locks onto the quarrelsome one herself. “I've got just as much family Possessed out there as you do, and I lost another one when Sparkle went after them. Is it fair of you to take away one more by going yourself? You were at the battle yesterday. I believe you'd agree when I say it is a... a death wish to walk out there, dear sister.” A firm emphasis is put on the term, 'sister'.
“You guys ask if I'm being fair. Ask yourselves if it's fair to chain me up here. Of my own free will, I wish to go, and with no bad affects to you in specific.” A longing eye is turned to the forest. Silently, I decide that if Spark goes, I'll go with her. If she's looking for Bright, then I'll come too. Bright... the anguish on his face, as he antagonized over his skirmish with Dasher, and the way he talked to me... right before we started the rock smash training, we talked for a while. He asked me if I'd keep an eye on him the in the night, keep me away from the Darkrai. It was a very furtive, desperate thing for him to ask, not something of the rational, and yet I agreed. When Joy-joy found the Lunar Wing though, I thought it was safe enough. I hadn't taken his Pokeball to my room as he'd wanted. Foolishly perhaps, I had thought the Wing would protect us. This is my fault.

When I come back to the present, Spark lies stilled on the floor, in submission. Disappointing, since I had hoped that I could come with her. Going out to look for Bright was one thing, doing it alone like poor Sparkle and Dasher was another matter. She mutters darkly to herself about Twirla cheating with a whole 'guilt trip' thing, forcing her to stay home. “Unfair guilt-trip or not,” Twirla tells her, not without amusement, “think of it as, 'I'm staying here to protect everyone else in case Darkrai or one of the Possessed comes back'. That should be sufficiently heroic enough to convince your pugnacious mind that it's not cowardly.”

“With all due respect Twirla, go to the Distortion World. Bug Giratina about it,” the Luxray spits out sourly.

Matrifol

Dappled sunlight finally floods from the small window, barely a hole in the wall. Groaning profusely, I stretch, then stumble up from my leafen bed. At last!
Daylight is always to be looked forward to. With it, comes an end to another sleepless night.
'Tis a beauteous morning out. I know, because I look through the interstice to see it myself. Looking down on all of the Hidden Forest's inhabitants, one would think I would at least feel the part of the princess. But how can one, when that beautiful view comes from the highest chamber of the Cavern Palace? A palace completely carved out inside the hollow of the Cliffs, and they place the queen all the way here to sleep. Regardless of whether she gets any sleep. One could hardly be placed in a more secluded, locked-away place? Even a sneaky Accelegor would have trouble getting out unnoticed.
Which one supposes is the point.

Peeking out of my window, the whole of the Hidden Forest is under my gaze. I have to shift around to see it all, since 'tis a very small window. 'Tis worth the neck-craning though.
A thin river winds across the center of the meadow, sourced from a waterfall running off of the Cliffs. Ducklett and Basculin streak through the waters and splash each other in silly games. Unlike most other places, both blue and red Basculin get along, if only because there's such a small amount of both varieties. They still refuse to take up mates of the opposite kind, of course. Plenty of other Pokemon meander at the riverside for their own reasons. Gaggles of of mother and father Swanna watch the little ones. A pair scolds their young Ducklett for getting water on a nice Deerling who only came to the lake for a drink of water. The Deerling in question looks mildly surprised, but with no damage done. I smile a little at the antics of the Ducklett. They are some of the most lively Pokemon.

With a frown, I realize that Miley and Cygnus have wandered off again. I do hope they haven't gone into the forest. These are the Darkened Days, after all. I only went yesterday because of that one Pokemon I heard stumbling about. Dreadful. And even then, I had my handmaidens, so I wasn't without protection
'Twas an interesting day yesterday. I make an attempt to recall it more clearly...
Oh yes. That Pokemon who named himself as a Gallade. A nice fellow. Psychic? Cilan? No, Psycho. Ah, that was his name. He seemed such a nice fellow, after he was conscious again. I do wish I knew what a Gallade was, though. 'Tis certainly not a Pokemon from Unova, else I would probably know more about them. Even now, I still know some of species that aren't from around these parts. This forest gets the occasional escapee from the Entralink, like Montolio, or Peaseblossom, who chose to stay with us. The one who don't make for these sheltered places called Hidden Grottoes. I've heard they're nice, but lonely. Oh dear me, what was I discussing in the first place..? Ah, Psycho. I wonder what happened to him. Really, I'm worried. 'Twas not the smart thing to do, leaving him there during the Darkened Days. According to Montolio, the Darkened don't attack unless you attack first, or Lord Moon sees something that disturbs him through them, leaving all of them on a massive rampage for the rest of the Days. Even so, perhaps poor Psycho didn't know that. Neither did he know I was the princess, and I quite told him I was queen. I wanted to make an impression on him, but now I feel a little guilty for not saying the truth. Technically, I'm not queen yet, and can't be until I "mature a little more" in the eyes of the chancellors. The faintly amusing idea keeps coming to mind, that perhaps someday I'll be a spidery old crone locked away and still reffered to as a princess.

The forest 'tis more an open clearing that forest, one notices with the absence of trees. It makes one wonder who named the place in the first place. I shift to see the bramble wall that encompasses the Hidden Forest, separating it from the rest of the trees. This whole area is surrounded by the Cliffs on all but one side, and that side is mostly hidden in thickets of thorns. One entrance is accessible through the bracken, a singular path contorting the thickets in one area and 'tis very difficult to see outside of the Hidden Forest. I like how protective it feels to the grove.
A knock resounds from the small boulder placed at the entrance of my room. 'Tis too heavy for me to move alone, but the Scolipede centurions can. “Princess Matrifol,” that recognizable, haughty voice asks, “are you awake?”
I tiptoe away from the window and by the door. “Yes, Chancellor. And you?” The last bit is a rather amusing personal joke. Every time Peaseblossom asks after my well-being, I ask after his. He can be too guarding, especially of me. There's good enough reason for these tendencies, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
“Obviously...” he drawls. “I came to inform you personally, that after your escaping act yesterday, you will be residing within your chambers this day. You know full well these are the darkened days, and all I asked was for you to stay within the Hidden Forest. Was that not such an unreasonable request?”
“It was not very unreasonable. However, I can make choices myself. I'm not the little Swadloon you coddled. I have evolved, and can do things for myself.”
He scoffs audibly. “Evolved or not, you need to stay out of trouble. If something were to happen to y-”
“Civil war could break out again between the Grass and Bug types. 'Tis a dumb feud to uphold if none remember what started it in the first place. I can't see why we can't just get along in the first place.”
Before he can go on a great rant about my duty, and who-cares-how-the-feud-started-its-here-and-we-have-to-deal-with-it, I switch to another point. Ha ha, subterfuge. “Besides, no-one was taken this year. Perhaps Lord Moon has given up that mad search of his.”
“I'm not about to take the chance. Truly, I am sorry about this. Have a good morning Princess.” He cuts short the conversation before we flat out start arguing. I sigh and leave back against the boulder, tracing a hand against the cool stone of the wall. This day might get a little boring. Halfheartedly, I almost hope some calamity will strike so I can have something more entertaining than staring out the window to look forwards to. Yes, this could be a long day indeed... I wonder when they'll send someone up with breakfast.

Sparkle

Just now, I realize the sun has risen. But I can't focus on the golden-red bands at the edge of the sky right now.
Dasher steps forward again. My heart throbs nervously, fluttering against my chest like a bird seeking escape from it's cage.
We advance and retreat in a tedious game, one of the sort I would not like to play under normal circumstances. Give and take, give and take. As I step back, he steps forward. If I come forward, he backs off. A game of maneuvering and positions. I only fear a sudden movement may startle Possessed Dasher into attacking without provocation.
“Dasher,” I call softly, “Dasher, it's just me. Sparkle. Please, just remember. I have Lotus with me. You don't want to attack us...” I trail off as Dasher looks blanker still. The lack of emotion doesn't suit him as well as his normal devastation and fascination with everything. I sneak a worried look at Lotus, who has most inconveniently fallen asleep. I can't run without fear of jarring something in him, maybe injuring him further. Walking around the forest even hurt him a little. And if Dasher were to attack... “Dasher, just snap out of it. Just wake up. Don't you see it's me? I don't know what Full Moon has done to you-” His head whips up, and he stares wide-eyed at me on mention of Full Moon. Nervously, I stand stock-still. Dasher seems content to imitate me here. Hold on a second...
It hits me why Dasher isn't responding to me; I am talking to the wrong Pokemon. Physically, this is still Dasher, but Full Moon was the one giving the orders. It would only make sense that he wouldn't respond to Dasher's name, since it's not Dasher who listening to me.

“Full Moon.” I state. Dasher tilts his head in the same funny way Psycho did yesterday. “That's you're name, right?”
“Yes.” Dasher/Full Moon creaks out. I almost shudder at both the creepy monotone, and the fact that I actually got a response. Certainly, I've got his attention. Now what was I supposed to do with it? What was I supposed to say? This was a deranged Pokemon I was talking to. He's taken over other Pokemon, for Mew's sake. How was I to go about this?
To both my relief and concern, Full Moon/Dasher chooses to talk before I do. “You..?”
“I what?”
“You are... familiar. They know... you. You... are?” My heart jolts. I can only guess that “they” means the Possessed..
“I'm Sparkle. If you don't mind me asking, uh, what might you be doing?”
Dasher's head cocks again. Absently, I wonder if the world looks any less strange when you tilt your view. Probably not. In any case, the blank expression on Dasher/Full Moon's face tells me he doesn't understand a word I'm saying. It feels almost like I'm speaking an entirely different language to him, that's how clueless he is.
Dasher/Full Moon give a twitch and continues to stare with those vacant eyes. “Sparkle. Of the Tamed Ones.” He uses the wild Pokemon's scathing term for us of the mansion.
“Yes?” I try.
“You... in the forest. Why?”
He doesn't respond when I ask what he's doing, and goes and asks me what my business is? I wonder if this guy's being naturally clueless, or if he's so as sick as to be trying to mess with a lost, and frightened Pokemon. Just as well, it will be difficult to explain that I'm trying to rescue my brothers. From him. Talk about awkward... My gaze travels down to Lotus. Well, it's a better alternative to getting attacked.
“Let's see...” I stall. “I'm trying to find my siblings. They are, um, lost in the forest.”
Dasher/Full Moon gives an intense look, even with the unfocused look of his eyes. “And so you are searching too?”
His sentence comes out more fluently than expected. Contrastingly, and giving me shivers, there's something harsh and pleading to it.
“I suppose I am.”
“Do you know... where she is?”
“That would depend on who she is.”
“I can't find her. It's been so long... an-” He stiffens and blinks a few times. With a lurch Dasher/Full Moon falls forward into the leaves. I watch, trembling, as he lays limply on the ground. Then slowly, shakily, he sits up. “Take that, Dialga-darned Darkrai.” Dasher spits out venomously, as himself. The same unfocused glaze slips over his eyes for a moment right afterward. Again, he collapses, and gets back up. “Try again sometime else.”
“Dasher? Are you-” As relievingly is typical of him, Dasher doesn't let me finish.
Wiping dirt off his face, he grabs onto a nearby rowan for support. “Moony's gone, and I'm fine now. Sort of.” With some clumsiness, my brother comes to a standing position, still gripping the tree. Dasher rests heavily on it's trunk. Shock is carved onto his face. “My Giratina, I did it. He's gone.” I am less convinced. If anything, recent lines of events have made me a little more cautious. “Are you certain?”
Dasher give a cocky smile. “Certain? Yes. I had to have. No more creepy dreamworld, no twisted trees, gone with the deranged paths, and no-one is going to ha-” His cool smile melts into a pensive frown. “You wouldn't mind if I asked you something strange that I really would be upset about if you told anyone, would you?”
A wry smile of my own runs along my mouth. “No. It's probably not any more disturbing than what I've already been through.”
As if it were something of great interest, Dasher picks a leaf off the tree and twirls it in his fingers. “Alright then. Tell me honestly if others hate me.” He looks up at me. Whether to make a point beyond me, or just because, Dasher begins to shred the leaf.
With a sigh, I lean back against the oak. “I don't think you are outright hated by anyone.” He relaxes a little. “But no-one really likes your presence either. It's hard to, when you're so indifferent one minute, and hot-blooded the next.” Dasher looks somewhat miffed at the last statement. But, at the same time, he looks relieved.
“So,” he asks conversationally, “what kind of disturbing things have you gone through today? I could write a book on mine, bu-u-u-u-t, I feel as if they are of a more private nature.”
My arms have gone numb from sitting in this cradling position for so long. I carefully shift Lotus to restore feeling to them. Almost guiltily. The thing is, would Lotus want me to tell Dasher the secret?

Dasher

No. Heatran, no. The image had faded away from the pond's surface altogether, and I've been panicking to myself for a bit. How could I have been so dumb? Thinking back, I remember Darkrai getting me with a Dark Void before I came here. This place is like a literal nightmare world. And now this creepy magic pond-thing in the nightmare word shows me my sister and Lotus somewhere in the forest. They said my name, and whatever gave the view came forward and... What does this add up to? Considering yesterday?
I've been Possessed.
It's kind of freaking my out. A lot. I have some Darkrai just, just, controlling my body, messing with my head, and probably going to terrorize Sparkle and Lotus? Neither of them look to be in very good shape right now. What am I supposed to do about it? Looking at the pond, I wonder what I can do about it. Wherever I am, it's not in reality... Shaking, I want to touch the pond's mirror-like surface. With some hope, I could maybe re-summon the view of reality again. Why I would want that, when I am powerless to stop Full-Moon from destroying my sister and Lotus, is still beyond me. Perhaps it would act as a portal out. Or something.
Really, glancing back at the experience makes me wonder if the revelation of my Possessed state unhinged temporarily. There's a vague impression I have of pacing a lot, maybe muttering the while. It's somewhat foggy though. Finally, I must have decided to really touch the pond. After all, it's water. Magic water maybe, but what harm could it do?

For me, that was a very naive notion.

There's a blurry gap in my memory where I'm certain I touched the water. My memory clears up when I realize that my hand goes right through the water as if air. It doesn't even feel wet. Next, I realize I'm too close to the ponds edge. I'm crouching at the point where the water almost meets the paltry grass. The most vividly recalled detail of this was a sickening shock, as if I'd stuck my hand in a stream to find it was actually the edge of a cliff. Which wasn't too far from the truth. If you thrust your hand out over the side of a precipice, hunched unstably and unguarded for the fact that you could fall off of it, would you fall? Most likely, yes. Thus, I fell straight into the pond.

I never saw where I came from. Just tumbled into a void of gray. I never remembered changing any. I just became a general consciousness. I never exchanged words with the stranger in my mind. Just knew who he was and that something distracted him. From what little Sparkle and Psycho talked about their encounter with the shadow in their heads, I also gathered that this place was some part of my mind. The floating gobs of darkness were memories.
And the shadow had to go.
A fierce discontent with Full Moon's unauthorized invasion of me pervaded most other notions. Furthermore, I knew he was a threat to Sparkle. Lotus, I could really care less about. But even as I never acknowledge it, I couldn't let something bad happen to her. Especially not after-
No. Forget the nightmare. That wasn't me they hate, that wasn't them they were. Forget that.
The Darkrai paid no attention to me whatsoever, and I intended to make him regret that. Finding that I couldn't walk, I had to will myself over. To drift.
Full Moon is wrenched from his fixation with the world outside of me, to me myself. Disinterestedly, he casts an orbital shadow over in the general area of my consciousness before returning to what fixates him so.
He must think I'm really, really stupid. The orb – which must be Dark Void - shimmers and expands until it is almost a gaping rip in the folds of my psyche. However, it's approach is practically slow-motion, and I know I can easily dodge it. What does he take me for? Perhaps he's too focused with what going on outside to bother with me. That may be fine for my conscious survival, but it gives shivers to think what that might indicate is happening to Sparkle and Lotus. Heatedly, I float back from the encroaching Dark Void. I couldn't go back to that nightmare and let Sparkle get hurt.
But as I drift out of the path of the ravenous void, I brush up against a memory I hadn't seen before. What? Had Full Moon planned tha-

My consciousness is injected, sucked into the confines of the moment I never, and always, think of.
Everyone has that memory. The thing so embarrassing, shameful, frightening, or heart-rending that they never want to speak of. They never can.

Dasher

Carrel spins into me with a hard Rollout. Between the rotations, I can see the gleam in his eyes as he rolls into my copy, rending it completely in half. As the scattering remains of the illusion disappear, I leap backwards with the rest of my copies. They flow in imitation, and Carrel reverse the direction of his spin to charge the rest of them down. One by one, my circle of second-self's vanishes. The after-images of my speed shift as I move down along the line to avoid him. As the final image is torn, I leap out of the way of his spin. Secretly I smile, knowing that as strong as Rollout is becoming, Carrel is tiring just as fast. When he slips out of his roll, he breathes wearily for a moment. I know, along with Joy, that this is the moment.
“Dasher, Psychic!” Joy-joy shouts vivaciously.
I reach into the mental energy I know to reside within my horns. How convenient that they lay near my head, where it's so easy to fluctuate their energy level with communication from my mind. How strange it will be when they lower to my chest, and I get a gladiator's spike on my head instead.
I can't wait.
The Bibarrel gasps at the mental energy overflow, lifting him up and smashing him to the uncomfortable grass below. He draws himself up laboriously, before collapsing once more. “You win,” he coughs out, “again.”
I beam and twirl, superior. “As always. Never challenge a highly determined Kirlia. You'll be left with your head spinning.”
With a snort, Carrel turns and lumbers back into the high clumps of hindering brush. “Only you trainer's Kirlia. The wimps out in the grass here, I can take on any day.” Without another word, he stalks off. Smiling, I feel warm. Joy's satisfaction with Carrel's repetitive challenges and the consistency to which I can defeat him washes over me. It feels good. Also, it mean I must nearly be Lvl 30. She promised to use her dawn stone on me then. Once I was a Gallade, I would storm the world with my strength!
“That was great, Dash!” Psycho bounces up to me. The elation Joy and I feel is infectious to him. He's always so perceptive of other's moods. “Wouldja lookit the tracks left on the ground from that Rollout! You beat him real good, even with how strong he was.” His own excitement also feeds mine, and I stand a little taller for the praise. With the extra energy, I feel the urge a little spin that just to let it out. “I know, right? Soon, I'll turn Lvl 30. Joy will snap me out of becoming a Gardevoir, and give me a Dawn stone so I can finally evolve to be Gallade!”
A pulse of confusion washes over from Psy to me. “Why do you have to do that again?” He himself plans to evolve into a Gardevoir eventually, so he doesn't pay much attention to my evolution plans.
“It's just a ritual. Like, I'm proving myself a man by training for that evolution, so then I'm worthy of being a Gallade.”
Joy walks up between us and lowers herself to about our height. She know how tiring it is to talk up to someone. “Exactly. It's to prove that you really want this, and are willing to work hard for it. It would be useless to evolve you like that if you weren't willing to work for it.” She motions over to the log she stashed her bag some tree-lengths away. “I think you must almost be Lvl 30. I'll go get my Pokedex, so I can scan you and check you're Lvl myself. It might even be today that you evolve.” Pride flows over from her in gentle waves. We've worked really hard to this point.
Psycho grins. Positive emotion is intoxicating to him. “I'll go get the Dawn stone, then! We'd better have it on hand if you're to evolve today.” Humming quietly to himself, he starts to skip over to the bag. With a stretch as she stands, Joy nods. Then, a peculiar look comes over her face. “But- If- Wait!” She doesn't bother to finish her thoughts before bounding with clumsy human strides to stop Psycho. Psy can be pretty fast when he wants to. I'm not sure what her deal is. Oh well, that's Joy for you, worrying over something none of the rest of us understand.
I hum a little to myself, and consider watching the escapade. It should provide amusement. To my interest, a Bidoof wanders out of the tall grass next to me. “Hullo there!” she chirps. “Carrel's told me about you. Strong one, aren't you?”
“Sure, I'm strong.”
She fluffs her silken fur before conversing again. “Well, why don't we have a battle then? I'm eager to see you in action myself.” A longing gaze from her tells me that see might just like the look of me in general. The admiration and wanting that radiates off of her in waves confirms me. Of course, a strong Pokemon always seems more attractive to others. I don't like her particularly, but I admit to a certain vanity in my battle skills. Even so, I look over to grass to were Psy and Joy must be. I can't see then that well. “I don't know. My trainer might not like me battling without her. She comes up with all the strategies and stuff I don't get.”
“You saying you need to human to boss you around just to be strong?” intones the Bidoof condescendingly. “Can't you think of your own volition?”
With a slight scowl, I drawn myself up to my full height. “I don't need no one to think for me. I'm fine on my own.”
“Prove it then!”
Gesturing over to an empty portion of space devoid of grass, I nod. “I accept your challenge.” The line sounds familiar, and gives me comfort. I could do this myself.
We face each other squarely at either end of the gap in the grass. She tiptoes almost comically over to me. Disarmingly, she Growls in a way of such friendliness. Usually, I would be on guard for such a disarming method, but it's so endearing how she does it. Still, I know this is a battle and leap back carefully from her. What should I do? Hrmm... Spinning, I summon leaves from the folds of the world. They glow with an otherworldly aura, pulsing with the different colors of the spectrum. With another twirl, I flick them in her general direction. Bidoof simply rolls over and they fly past her. “Is that all you got?” she yells. Confidently, she charges me with an exceptionally quick tackle. I leap over her, and smile as I swerve to duck the whirling Magical Leaf attack. It came back just like a boomerang.
She squeals as the leaves batter her seemingly endlessly. I take the chance to spin out another round, which rains on her as soon as the first stops. Her panic seeps into the air like the dew after a rain. Finally, Bidoof cries, “Enough! I concede!”
“Had enough?” I tease mercilessly.
“Enough, enough! Sure.” She smooths her ruffled head fluff with a flick of her ear. “That was spectacular. I'd like to battle you again. If I may, what is your name?”
“Dasher.” She acknowledges my name before vanishing back into the grass. The wild Pokemon here tend not to linger for goodbyes.
As she leaves, punch the air and jump. Yes! I. Am. Awesome. I didn't even need Joy's help for this one!
Without a warning, my elation flows into a warm feeling I have all around. This pleasure must be stronger that I thought, because not I feel hot, strangely so. It feels like something just injected me with all the energy stored in a Cherrubi's pip. My thought is fractured when a glowing effulgence overtakes my skin. Slowly, I feel my limbs lengthen and my insides shift. Humans mistake evolution as a wonderful experience, but it can be rather uncomfortable due to the large amount of rearranging that has to take place. This doesn't feel right, beyond that discomfort. I can't become a Gardevoir!
I try to snap myself out of the trance, pinching my arm. Dismay floods me when I still glow. Now, I can't even move. My arms drop to my side and they gain length. As I build in height, I can suddenly see beyond the tall grass. My battle with Bidoof must have been shorter than I thought, because while Psy is already at the bag, Joy is almost there. He's not paying attention to her much, since she seems to be yelling something and he mostly ignores her. Scatterbrain he is, too excited about getting that stone for me to pay attention to anyone else. Desperately, I want to call out, cry out for them to get me out of this. Help! But I can't move, can't even breathe as the light and heat takes me.
Psy roots around in the bag until he obviously finds what he wants; the Dawn stone, he said. The Dawn stone? I realize why Joy's so worked up over Psy reaching into her bag.
Triumphantly, Psycho hold up the glistening, blue stone. It looks like a bright dawn morning has been captured inside it, hence the name. Giving Psycho a good jolt, he and the stone take on the same shine I do. Shocked, he drops the stone. I see his dress shrink up into something hard and coin-like, as mine elongates. His legs thicken, and mine become so fragile as to almost break under me. Panic sets from him in a steady beat as he watches spikes shoot from the ends of his elbows, and cringes as the insides of his arms must shift to accommodate the hollow, bone swords stored inside. If his eyes were visible in the glow, I know they would be wide and scared.
Joy just watches. It takes her as suddenly as us, and she does nothing.
My evolution finishes earlier than Psycho's does, and I find that I can't support myself anymore. My legs buckle under the voluminous weight of my dress. Even more disconcerting, is the loss of the emotions. When I once felt Psycho's panic, there is now nothing but empty gaps of nothing. The change in the placement of my horns must have taken the ability away.
I lay paralyzed on the ground, at loss of comprehension.

The memory takes my breath away. How dare he! I push the gob off of me. Wordlessly, I propell myself over to the shadow. He must have known. He turns to me -
and I push him violently away from my mind.
I can feel my body jerk and hit the gorund. Niether of us has any control. Full Moon slips back away, and I flood back into myself. “Take that, Dialga-darned Darkrai.” I say in spite, and take a glance up at my sister. She hasn't been beaten up or anything since I saw her in my nightmare, and I feel relief flood me. She does look scared though. Lotus just looks out of it. Slowly, I try to get up.
Full Moon takes advantage of my emotional weakness by battering me with his own consciousness. Slipping back into my mind, I feel him grappling with me, trying to force me out of control. We wrestle, and I slip out of my control once more. A glimpse of Sparkle, worried and wide-eyed works it's way to me. Bad enough to violate me like this. I can't let him get to her too.
Something else catches his attention, and he moves elusively out of my mind. I didn't even have to fight him much; he just left. As he goes away, I notice a frightened glare to the singular, blue eye staring back at me.
With his abscence, I am pulled back into control. Back out where I am in control and can see my sibling and techinal uncle. Breathing heavily, I struggle up off the ground. Natrually, I am completely exhausted. After all, I was running around the wood all night. Or was it half of the night? The time eludes me.
“Try again sometime else.” I say to no-one in particular. Full Moon wasn't going to have me anymore. Almost, but not audiably, I laugh out loud. Full Moon was gone from me!
"Dasher? Are you-"
I grab onto some tree nearby and try to stand as Sparkle begins to fuss over me. Dialga-darn-it! Can't even stand without a blackness edging my vision. What did that Darkrai do, run me off a cliff? "Moony's gone, and I'm fine now. Sort of." Victoriously, I get on two feet and grip a branch for support. “My Giratina, I did it. He's gone.” Elated, I smile. Sparkle is still eying me like I could turn into a ravenous Krookodile any moment. "Are you certain?"

“Certain? Yes..."

Sorry about putting Dasher in two posts. It just felt too long in one. But yay! These two are worth about three and a half pages, and it's all done in a day!

Psycho

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

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

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

Joy-joy

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

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

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

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

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

I'm so sorry I wasn't able to write more any sooner. Between a novel-in-the-making, a busted computer, nosey siblings, and a ten-ton amount of homework, even this much was difficult to manage. Things are going to have to slow down between now and (my) Christmas break for Forest of Secrets. With luck, I'll get out of this rut soon.