Lostlorn Forest: Shadow of a Doubt

      Two years ago feels like yesterday. I remember it well. All my friends, my family, were abandoning our beloved forest, turning tail and fleeing like a pack of cowardly Patrat. But I was among the few who stayed. Even the forest outsider, a nice lady who fed us when there was no food to be found, had moved out as the predator moved in. Yes, the rumours were true. A Zoroark had come to Lostlorn Forest.
      At first she came to hide her cubs, three troublesome little Zorua, from the prying eyes of hunters and poachers. But without as many Pokémon in the forest, Berries and fruit grew plentiful, and it became increasingly clear that the secluded wood was the perfect spot for her family.
      As a Pansage, I am a mainly diurnal creature. So only being able to go out in the daytime wasn't a problem for me, as Dark-types are mostly night-based. But even in the daylight, I noticed that the forest was changing. At first I thought I was seeing things, but it gradually became clear that my home was not as it was before. It was the Zoroark's Illusion Ability that was making the forest distort. I would be walking into a clearing and run straight into a pine tree.
      I remember one particular time I saw a brave young Lillipup being chased through the forest by the Zoroark. She wasn't going at top speed, I noticed. Zoroark normally walk on two paws, being bipedal, but when running they sprint on all fours, with their untidy red and black mane whipping behind them. She must have been attempting to teach the Zorua hunting skills. But then I realized something. The forest was moving to her will. It would contort around the Lillipup, making it think to run in a certain direction. Which just happened to be where the Zoroark needed it to go. I didn't stick around to see the end to the Lillipup.
      Eventually the Zorua Evolved, and the forest was no longer safe for any creature, neither Pokémon nor human, to live in. I fled my home as others had done before me, leaving the Lostlorn Forest as lonely and desolate as it had been in the past. And that is how my home grew to live up to its name.