Red Velvet E6.2.2 (Lit)

The forest branches twisted and turned above the Nidoran as she dashed through Illusory Woods, faster and faster. This place was totally unpleasant. Extremely unpleasant. The trees glared at passersby and seemed to constantly reach out to snag them; the shadows looked restless and unfriendly. Trilling cries of night Pokémon echoed between the trunks despite the broad daylight filtering meekly through the foliage. It might have been just another jungle, but it wasn’t. It was a Trick House, and Perdita didn’t like it.

“Shit, where is that damn kitty?” she hissed under her breath, nervously whipping her head to the side where she could have sworn she saw a vine rise from the ground to whip at her. The trees we infinite and nothing seemed to happen where she looked, only where she didn’t. It was highly unsettling, and she wanted to get her search over with as soon as possible. But she had no idea how possible that was; the illusions in this forest were strong, and she could barely tell if she had been traveling in a straight path.

Suddenly, a familiar voice cut her frantic dash: “Sis!!”

Surprised, she whirled around to the source of the call. The sight totally caught her off guard—Instead of the ubiquitous plants of Illusory Woods, the clearing before her eyes sported a floor that might have been made of ice if it didn’t look so rough and worn with age. Crystal, perhaps? The rest of the clearing was surrounded by a strange blue aura instead of foliage, and it wavered and moved constantly, like an aurora.

What was even more shocking, though, was the pair of Pokémon headed towards her, seemingly superimposed on the background—one, a Larvitar, skin mottled here and there with battle scars. Another, a blue Nidoran with a bandanna worn reversed around his neck. Her brothers.

“Tybalt! Faust!” she called, utterly surprised. Here of all places! The two Pokémon advanced quickly towards her, their footsteps the sound of crunching grass instead of the expected clinking crystal, shadows nonexistent on the fake ground. Against the falsity behind them, both seemed oh so real…

As they neared, the illusory backdrop behind them flickered and ceased to exist, leaving behind a scene as repetitive as the rest of the woods. The two Pokémon, though, remained completely intact.

“Perdita!” Her twin brother grinned and sped up towards her. “Gee, what are you doing here? Our visit was supposed to be a surprise…”

“What? What for?” Perdita still hadn’t quite gripped the situation. She hadn’t seen her family in nearly a year! It would make sense they’d want to pay her a visit. She’d just sent a letter, after all, that she’d arrived in Tao. How’d they get there so fast, though?

“For your birthday, silly.” Tybalt grinned that boyish grin that he always made right before he started a street fight. Perdita had always been rather fond of that smirk. “Ma told us to come over to greet ya. She and Pa were a bit too busy to come over, but we had time to spare.”

“My birthday? That isn’t in another three months!” Perdita was totally confused, and, by the looks on their faces, so were Tybalt and Faust. The two visitors exchanged dumbfounded glances, before Faust shook his head exasperatedly.

“I’d heard this forest played tricks,” he muttered, “but I didn’t think they’d be this intense.”

Tybalt shrugged nonchalantly and said, “Well. In any case, we’re here. The sooner we find a way outta this House of Mirrors, the better. So whaddaya think, Perdita? Let’s head home?”

“Home?” Perdita echoed. The further they dived into the conversation, the more puzzled she became. “Yo, bro, you forgot? I’m working for Stian. Unless you don’t need the money anymore?”

“Sis, that Purrloin’s bad news,” Faust whispered as Tybalt’s grin was replaced by a scowl. “Why did you go work for him anyway? Seriously, he—“

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold your Ponyta there, twinny.” Perdita interrupted, waving her claws in the air. “Last time I checked, you were totally fine with him when I left. We needed the money, you said. Just do whatever, you said.”

“Yeah, well, uh, I guess I changed my mind?” Faust glanced over at his older brother for help. Tybalt raised an eyebrow and waved his paw dismissively.

“Yeah, we need you home, sis. Come on, let’s roll.”

“But Stian’s kinda missing, and—“

“Don’t you wanna go home?”

Perdita paused, looking back and forth at her brothers’ seemingly desperate faces. Why were they so keen on this? They’d had no protests when she’d left a year ago, and they didn’t say anything about this disapproval in the letters they sent to her. Was this part of the surprise, or…? “Uh, look guys, you’re acting kinda funky—“

All of a sudden, Tybalt’s face grew dark, darker than Perdita had ever seen. Caught off guard, the Nidoran took an uneasy step back as her brother mumbled ominously, “Then I suppose we’ll have to drag you home.”

“W-Wha—“

All of a sudden, the ground began to shake. An Earthquake attack from Tybalt! The grassy soil began to crack, beginning from the space in front of the Larvitar, the widening chasm rapidly extending towards Perdita. With a hiss, she leapt in the air as far as she could towards her brother and struck him with a Double Kick. He was her idol, and she really didn’t want to, but there was no other option in her mind at the moment but to fight.

Struck square in the forehead, Tybalt’s mouth opened in shock for a split second before his entire body dissolved into shadows, which quickly disappeared into the air like black vapor. Of course, dammit! It was the forest! Illusions, everything!

Enraged by her own stupidity, Perdita whirled around to face her twin, who scowled unnaturally at the eye contact and melted into liquid darkness, which twirled and twisted around itself until it formed a blazing Tauros that blew smoke from its nostrils and kicked up dust in preparation for a charge. Flinching, Perdita turned and dashed away as quickly as she could, the feral howl of the phantom bull behind her chasing after her hurried footsteps. She didn’t know how opaque these illusions could get. They could trick her; how could she be sure they couldn’t hurt her?

The trees danced around her and blood seemingly splashed under her feet, but Perdita the Nidoran shut her eyes tight and ran and ran and ran.