Ruby Gold

Chapter 3 The Illusion

Not even a total of 48 hours passed before the plan was complete. The Gym leaders made sure to let their families know what was to come and who would be in charge of what if anything happened. Of course, their families were troubled for them, but they knew they had the Gym leader's responsibilities.
They were taking an armored car with a few mighty rangers Rose assigned for them in case they needed backup. Piers looked out the window as they drove, watching the snowfall on the ground. He had a bad feeling about this. He had told his sister what was happening, and she broke down, asking him not to go and let the other gym leaders deal with it. He, of course, didn't do that, but it broke his heart when she broke down. He wondered if his soul sister would be like her or different. Would she ask him not to go, or would she encourage him to go and take care of the problem (soul siblings have the name of their soul sibling on them with the word Sister or Brother following the title.). he had always wondered if she would leave after finding out that he hated Gigantimax or if she would start to ignore him for her actual soulmate like his younger sister started doing after she met Hop.
"We have to stop here. The snow is too high for us to get there in the truck," the driver said as he stopped the truck, starting to get stuck in the snow. Everyone nodded and started to gather their things to get out of the car. Piers grabbed his bag and jacket before getting out, ensuring everything was in its place.
"Alright, everyone, Charizard will lead us to the cave from here on out. make sure to keep an eye out and Kabu, make sure you keep an eye on the Lake, so we don't get ambushed by the pokemon in there." Leon said as he took out Charizard. "You ready, buddy," Leon asked, and his Charizard just nodded and turned to start leading.
They walked for a couple of miles until they got to the Lake, where they could see some destroyed boats lying in the snow. Kabu approached but didn't see anything in the Lake. The pokemon wasn't there, so it might have been under the water. Nessa sent out her arrokuda to inspect the water and report or lead the pokemon to the surface where they could attack it. She stayed with Kabu and a couple of rangers to ensure everything went well as the rest of the group continued. As they continued, they all started to get a bad feeling like Pears was having in the truck. they all decided to split up just in case they were ambushed.
"Hold on, I see something in front," Leon said as he told everyone to stop. His Charizard just glared up ahead but said and did nothing. as they watched the still-falling snow, they could make out a figure. "is there anyone out there" Leon yelled.
"...h....p..." they heard a voice coming from ahead.
"We can't hear you. Do you need help!!" Leon asked as he glared to get a better look. The figure walked closer, and it looked like they were limping. "are you hurt? Please respond"
"Please.... help..." the voice said. It sounded raspy as the person got closer, but they could place it in a man's voice. "help..help," the man called. Leon nodded, took it as a sign, and started walking closer with his Charizard.
"hold on, Leon," Piers stopped him from walking, making everyone look at him "hold on, something seems off to look at Charizard."
Leon looked over at Charizard and realized what Piers meant. Something was making him nervous, and if he knew his pokemon well, he knew that Charizard never got anxious about anything. Leon looked over at the man again and paused. He felt terrible whenever he looked at him, but he couldn't help the man.
"Leon, I'm getting a bad feeling about this...." Piers said
"yes, I agree even my frosmoth is feeling skittish," Melony said as she approached.
"Babe, what should we do," Gordie asked, looking at his mate, who was contemplating.
"help... help me please... I need help. "The man said as he got closer. he was still a good couple of meters away from them, but the closer he got, the more the pokemon got nervous. "please... I'm so cold...I can't breathe...."
They waited a couple more minutes before Leon started to walk toward the man again. From the looks of it, the closer Leon got, the man looked in his early 30s to late 20s; he had blond hair and a blue coat on with a backpack that seemed to be filled to the brim.
"Sir, how did you end up here?" Leon asked, realizing something was wrong the closer the man got. "sir, please stop walking. You might end up hurting yourself more." Leon said, but the man ignored him. Gordie then grabbed his lover's hand to stop him from walking again.
"Please... help me..." the man said as he continued to walk. Once he was a couple of feet away, Charizard stepped forward to stand in front of Leon. Leon just let his pokemon do so, not bothering to look away from the man now feeling something terrible from the bottom of his stomach. "Please, I need help.... I need help," the man said as he tried to take another step but was attacked with an Air Slash by Charizard.
"Charizard!!!" Leon yelled as Piers took out his Obstagoon from his Pokeball. "What's wrong, buddy," Leon asked as his Charizard glared at the man thrown a couple of feet away from them. "Sir, sir, are you alright?" Leon yelled as he was about to run at the man to make sure he was alright, but his Charizard stopped him. from a couple of feet away, the man got up from the snow and shook off the snow that was on him. He looked perfect, almost like a Charizard never hurt him or beforehand "sir...." Leon started but stopped when there was a slight breeze making more snowfall in one direction
"Well, that was rude, don't you think...." The man said as he started laughing. With the snow in the way, Leon and Piers could hardly see a couple of feet in front of them, but they saw when the man's blond hair grew longer and when it turned white with red tips. The man's face looked almost fox-like as the snow fell harder. The man's clothes seemed to merge with his skin as his skin turned to pure white fur. Everyone's eyes widened as the man turned into a pokemon they had never seen before. The pokemon seemed to be letting out a laugh as it roared into the open air. It turned its attention back to Leon and Piers and their pokemon before a dark feeling overcame them. It was so dark they almost dropped to the ground at the sense of Malice coming from the pokemon.
"Charizard use Flamethrower now," Leon ordered as his Charizard let out a roar and attacked as the other pokemon stood there.
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Allister walked with his sister through the snow, ensuring his Gengar was in front of him. Bea had her pangoro out ready just in case anything happened. they had been walking for a couple of minutes since they left Kabu and Nessa at the Lake and since they split up with the rest of the group. It was silent. He didn't see anything for miles other than snow and ice. Suddenly he paused. He heard something in the distance.
'humans... to close to den... get away humans...' he heard a voice.
"what's wrong, Allister? Did you see anything?" Bea asked as she looked back at him. He nodded as his Gengar got closer to him to see if he was alright.
'humans... I hate all humans except mamas... I see humans...' he heard the voice again.
"Did you hear that?" he asked Bea, who just shook her head." I think... it's a ghost-type pokemon up ahead... it doesn't like humans..." he said. Bea nodded and looked around and didn't see anything until she looked in the direction that the Lake was in. there stood a little boy with a big hat on his head with a pink outfit. He looked calm, considering where he was.
"I think I found it...." Bea said as she pointed at the boy. Alister looked over and, all of a sudden, stopped.
'human bad... kill humans... get back to the den to protect mama's human...' the ghost pokemon said in its spiritual voice. The boy slowly walked closer, not saying a word as he did so. 'Humans hurt pokemon... humans are liars.'
"hello..." Alister started as the boy walked closer. The boy stopped and looked at him, panicked "don't worry, we won't hurt you," he said, Bea leaving him to handle the ghost type.
"I'm lost. Can you help me" the boy spoke?
"I know what you are... you don't have to hide. We won't hurt you," Allister said as he got closer, with his Gengar following behind him.
"What do you mean..." the boy paused, giving a confused look.
"I know what you are... you don't have to be afraid... we want to help you and the rest of the pokemon in the den," Alister said. The boy gave him a wide-eyed look before shaking his head.
'You lie, human... all humans lie except mama's human...' the pokemon's spirit said
"I'm not lying... I promise..." Alister said as the boy's eyes widened. Bea watched as the boy's expression changed from confused to alert to angry.
'you understand... you understand like mama human... yet you lie' the boy shook his head, but no actual words left his mouth
"no, I promise I speak nothing but the truth...." Alister said, but his Gengar interrupted him
'You speak from experience. You have no trust in humans; why is that child?' Allister's Gengar asked the pokemon.
'You traitor like the rest of them... you like the rest... lier....'
'i do not lie, child. We wish to help you and your den mates get to safety. humans are angry about your den mates' attacks...' Gengar said as it glared at the boy. The boy just shook his head.
'humans had it coming... they try to hurt mama's human... they will hurt her again... humans are worse than pokemon... you traitor like the rest of them...' the boy glared as his soft brown hair turned full white with red tips. 'you hurt us like before... you kill our sisters and brothers for our furs... human laugh at our miss fortune... humans kill and eat us... yet you side with them....'
'humans are not like that....'
"I promise you that no one would ever hurt you like that! I swear that whatever happens, nothing like that will ever happen to you or your den mates." Allister yelled as the boy's skin turned white, and he started to shrink.
"Allister, what's going on?" Bea asked, confused, Pangoro also not understanding, standing in front of her.
"we will never do such things like that. I don't know what humans have done to you in the past, but I swear that nothing like that will ever happen to you," Allister yelled through the snow.
"ZORRUUUAAAA" the pokemon yelled 'LIIIIEEEERRRRR' the spirit yelled before turning into the snow, crying, and digging a tunnel.
"WAIT" Allister yelled, trying to catch the pokemon, but it was already gone.
"Allister, what happened, "Bea asked as she chased him
"They are scared... they talked about being skinned and being hunted and how humans made fun of them for suffering and ... and...."
"Shhh, calm down and tell me what happened," Bea said as her brother cried into her shoulder.
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Raihan was flying on his Flygons back with Milo holding his waist as they passed threw the sky. They were looking around the ground, trying to spot any of the pokemon in the video but haven't spotted anything. Everything was white with snow, and it was hard to see, but with Flygons staring eyes, it could wear them if it spotted anything.
"Look there," Milo said as he pointed to a spot on the ground only a couple of miles away from the cave entrance. "I think... I think that's the pokemon that always picks up the food. Land there," Milo said as Raihan ordered the flygon to land. Once they landed a couple of feet away, the pokemon with white fur and brown antlers glared at them.
The pokemon turned its body to face the people that just appeared out of the sky from a flying pokemon out of nowhere. It glared and was getting an attack ready.
"wait, please," the man yelled as he pulled out a barry. The pokemon paused for a moment and stared at the barry in the man's hand. Raihan got in front of him with Flygon ready to attack. "don't do anything, Raihan." Milo stated
the pokemon glared for a moment before slowly approaching the men. It kept its distance but still let its guard down for a moment. It sniffed the air again, only for it to shake its head and nod.
Both men needed clarification as to what that meant. The pokemon just nodded again and turned away to disappear into the snow. Raihan tried to follow after it, but it disappeared just as fast as it had appeared. Both men looked at each other confused.
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Leon was in the middle of an ice dome created by Melody, with Piers hiding as their Pokémon fought outside with the giant Pokémon. The Pokémon itself was scary and powerful, but its size was what got to them. The Pokémon called out its name like every other Pokémon, but this one called out Zoruark's name as its own. Still, it looked more prominent, and its color was different.
"You ok, honey," Gordie's mom asked as she checked the bruise on his face.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Melody. I was standing too close," Leon stated as he shrugged her off. "We have bigger things to worry about right now, like What type you think it is."
"From the looks of it, it seems to be a Ghost-type, but it seems to have a secondary typing," Piers said "a Zoruark is normally a dark type, so I'm just going to go with that as it's secondary typing," he said as he sent out his Malamar. The Pokémon went out and started to attack as well. The Pokémon didn't look like it was struggling, but it had its eye on Charizard, shooting it the most.
Charizard was having trouble concentrating, the Pokémon was fast and robust, but the smell of blood and Malice made it hard for him to focus on attacking. He knew that the Pokémon were mainly aiming at him, so he dodged most of the hits to allow his trainer's friends' Pokémon to attack, but every time the Pokémon made a hit against him, it felt worse than I gigantamax hit in his standard form.
"Charizard, to me, we are taking this to the sky," Leon yelled as Charizard came back to him, allowing him to jump on his back. The pokemon saw that and aimed an attack in their direction, but one of the other pokemon attacked it. "Now come on, make it chase you north to allow everyone else to go to the cave," Leon shouted as Charizard flew higher. "Gordie, go with Piers and your mother to the cave. I'll catch up."
"Leon!!!" Gordie yelled, but the pokemon jumped into the air and threw another attack.
"Gordie, let's go now that it's distracted. Rangers watch his back," Piers yelled as he ran with Melony, who dragged her son and left the Rangers behind to help Leon in case he needed help.
"Damn it," Gordie said as he followed his mother. They ran until they got to the cave entrance.
Once at the entrance, they all sighed and tried to catch their breaths. They looked back, but because of all the snow, all they could see were a couple of flashes of red and yellow as Leon and the pokemon attacked each other.
"Gordie, let's go in, dear. I'm sure Leon will be alright," Melony called to her son. as he looked back worried, "right now, we need to focus."
"yes, ma'am," Gordie said as he brushed her off and continued to the cave. Once in the cave entrance, he looked around and found nothing odd.
"Skuntank, get on out here," Piers said as he took out his Skuntank. His Skuntank instantly started sniffing around it, glaring at the snow and found a tunnel leading to the cave entrance. They didn't find any paw prints, but they knew it was fresh because the snow on top didn't have enough time to settle around the entrance.
'Skuntannnk," the pokemon cried as it sniffed the air again and started walking into the cave. The Gym leaders followed the pokemon as it sniffed around the cave.
"Skuntank, what are you smelling," Piers asked his pokemon as it walked.
They walked for a couple more minutes into the cave, taking out the flashlights given to them by the rangers. They needed to make it halfway through the shelter before hearing a roar from outside the cave. It was louder than the cry of the illusion of pokemon they ran into and louder than the roar that the dog pokemon the video let out, so that must have meant that they finally found the gigantic pokemon in the Lake. They looked back, waiting for anything to appear, but nothing did. They continued walking deeper into the cave. They could see where the other Rangers had been attacked, for blood and things were all around the cave. They searched through the things that were left behind, but they didn't find anything useful.
'Eeeeleeecccttttttrrroooo,' they heard coming from deeper in the cave. They all paused, but the Skuntank's head shot up.
"Skuntank, what's wrong," Piers noticed something was wrong with his pokemon. The pokemon looked confused before calling out to the pokemon that cried.
'Tttrooooddddeee...." the pokemon cried again. Piers and Gordie both gave each other looks before they took out their main pokemon as they heard something coming.
"Mom, back up," Gordie said as he stepped in front of his mom "it might be that fire-type pokemon from the video," he ordered his mother, who just nodded, not bothering to lecture him about talking to his mother in such a way but knowing he did it for her safety.
As they heard the pokemon get closer, they realized that it wasn't any pitter-patter or the sound of paws hitting the ground but something rolling. They hid behind their pokemon as they saw something ahead of them, Skuntank staying in front for some reason. Obstagoon stood over Piers protectively, trying to call back his friend as Coalossal watched as the Wild pokemon got closer.
Once it was in clear sight, they saw that it was a round pokemon. It had red and brown markings looking almost like an Electrode but ten times bigger. Instead of having its usual smirk, it had an angry expression. Still, it looked nearly worried as it looked at Skuntank, who just sniffed at the pokemon. The pokemon got close to Piers Skuntank almost cautiously as it got closer. It didn't seem to see or smell the gym leaders as it got closer. It only focused on Skuntank, sniffing at it as it rolled around. He looked at the other pokemon but turned back to the Skuntank.
"Torkoal, Use Solar beam on that pokemon," they heard Raihans voice from the entrance of the cave. From the side of Obstagoon, a solar beam shot out and hit the ball like pokemon, making it roll back with a shout.
"EEEEELLLLLEEEEECCTTTTRRRROOOOODDDEEEE" the pokemon shouted as it regripped itself, balancing itself. Its angry expression returned as it now saw the gym leaders. Skuntank called after it as it started to throw Energy Balls at the Gym leaders and Rangers that came with Raihan and Milo. They blocked it with protection and began to use fire-type moves.
"Shiftry, Use Leaf Blade," Milo yelled as he took out his pokemon. He gave the wild one a look of pity as his pokemon ordered.
They attacked the pokemon as it tried to defend itself. The pokemon knew that it wouldn't be able to win, so it started to roll more profoundly into the cave. The rangers ordered their pokemon to follow it as the Gym Leaders regrouped.
"What happened?" Raihan asked as he ran to Gordie's side.
"We were fine. Why did you do that" Piers snapped as he looked over at the lovers as they talked. "that pokemon was friendly."
"That pokemon is probably one of the reasons so many rangers are in the hospital right now," Raihan snapped back.
"Babe, not now. We have to follow it," Milo said as he pulled at Raihan's sleeve. Raihan nodded and sent Piers a glare as he followed Milo into the cave, Followed by Piers, Melany, and Gordie. They ran a couple of meters in and found that the Rangers were battling other pokemon. This time it was the big rock and fire type from the video, and from the seams of it, the Rangers were losing 10 to 1. one being the dog-like pokemon and ten being the Rangers.
"Rangers, get back. We will handle it. You all call for reinforcements," Raihan yelled over the sound of rocks falling, the pokemon's cry of pain, and the loud roar the dog pokemon gave out. The Rangers instantly called their pokemon back as Raihan sent out Goodra.
'Goooodrrraaaa,' the pokemon cried as it let out muddy water towards the rock and fire type. The rock type glared at Goodra as a Flapple, Obstagoon, and Barbaracle appeared with glares on their faces. The pokemon turned and nodded at their trainers as they got ready for battle. Melony ensured that the Rangers kept their distance and kept an eye out if a pokemon appeared from deeper in the cave.
The dog pokemon let out another roar, trying to blow the Gym leader's pokemon away, but they stood firm as they let out their cries of anger. The Dog pokemon Barked and started to charge up fireballs over its head.
"Goodra uses Muddy water now," Raihan yelled.
"Barbaracle, Use Razer shell on the pokemon's legs," Gordie yelled
"Flapple, Use Dragon rush," Milo instructed as all the pokemon moved to attack simultaneously. The dog pokemon was thrown off balance for a moment before growling, and it charged at the owned pokemon with rage.
"Obstagoon, Use Counter," Piers yelled as his pokemon moved. The Dog pokemon growled as Obstagoon used the counter.
'BRRRAAAAVVVVV,' They heard from deeper in the cave.
"lookout, there's another pokemon coming," Melody yelled as she used her pokemon to block an upcoming attack. From behind the dog pokemon, two bird pokemon that looked like Braviary flue in, but one was all black with a blue mask over its eyes and the other white with gray with a purple and blue fire mask over its eyes, and behind them stood a pokemon that looked like Semurott. Still, it had a hard black shell instead of its brown shell. And behind it was a 7-foot-tall Lucario and a Goodra with a shell on its back. The pokemon let out cries as they charged the trained pokemon, attacking them with all sorts of moves.
"Shit..." Raihan whispered as his Goodra was overpowered, and he had to send out Duraludon. "We are getting overpowered here... move back. I'm going to send out my full team," he yelled over everything happening. As he was about to grab the rest of his pokeballs, a fire blast was shot out from behind him and the rest of the rangers.
Behind him stood Charizard with a tired-looking Leon, who looked just as beat up as his pokemon. They both looked like they were about to fall with the blow of a whistle, but they stood proudly as they continued to advance. The rangers cheered as they saw Leon, the Gym leaders let out a sigh of relief as they saw him appear, and the wild pokemon just glared. Charizard let out a roar, started using Ancient power, and began attacking the pokemon without orders.
"Leon, you're ok" Milo yelled as he ran to him. "what happened? You look terrible."
"I'm fine, love, just a couple of scratches," Leon said as he kissed Milo
"Just as Scratch... don't lie, you need to see a medic," Gordie snapped "go with my ma. She can heal you right now as the pokemon handle this." Gordie snapped
"What happened to the pokemon you were battling," Piers asked as he approached.
"What pokemon?" Raihan and Milo asked
"don't worry; it is being contained as we speak by backup rangers we had prepared." Leon nodded. "Kabu and Nessa have the gigantic pokemon in the lake handled along with another water pokemon that appeared, and they sent me here to help you guys after they received an S.O.S from here," he said greeted Gordie and Raihan with kisses as he limped over to Melony. The latter patted him on the head and started to work on his injuries.
"Love, what do we do? We are in an enclosed place with no breathing room to go back or forward," Gordie asked as he looked at the fighting pokemon. "our pokemon are tired. From the looks of it, the wild pokemon are just getting started."
"move forward... there is something in there that the pokemon is trying to protect, and I want to know what it is so we can protect it too." Leon said as he looked ahead at where the wild pokemon were.
"Leon..."
"I don't care if it's reckless, I want to know, and I want to help, too," he said as he stared again into the darkness.
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It took a couple of hours before everything came to a standstill. The Rangers helped a lot with their teams, and so did the Gym leaders. The pokemon were tied down and prepared to be transported out of the cave and into cages, where they would be moved to a safe location. Leon was the first to move deeper into the shelter as his Dragapult searching followed him for anything that could have been why the pokemon reacted in such a way. Rangers followed him as he confidently walked in, leaving his soulmates behind and only taking Piers from the gym leaders.
"what do you think we are going to find?" Piers asked as they walked as his Toxicity walked behind him.
"Hopefully, some answers... or at least an explanation," Leon said as they walked. The closer they walked to the back of the cave, the more they started to notice the plants that grew wealthy from the ground and rocks around them. It was hot, but not as hot as boiling. It is a hot summer's day when you want to relax hot.
They walked for a couple more minutes before they saw the light from around the corner of one of the cave tunnels and heard a couple of noises. Leon singles everyone to be silent as he slowly approaches, followed by Piers. They sauntered as they started to peek over the corner, where they could see a field with flowers and trees growing in the middle of a clearing with an artificial sun (sunny day) shining through the ceiling.
"Leon looks over there," Piers whispered as he pointed into a small cave river. There lay a pokemon with brown fur in a deep slumber. Next to it lay a pokemon that looked to be made of stone with stone axes for hands, and behind it w purple pokemon with sharp claws that looked like they had poison dripping from the very ends.
The pokemon looked relaxed as they lay there, not a care in the world as they napped like there was no tomorrow. They were about to leave their hiding places. Still, the electric grass pokemon from earlier came rolling by, followed by four baby pokemon. The babies looked at it worried as the baby from the video barked.
"Leon, we should-"
"Shhh," Lion stopped Piers just as he was about to speak. Something caught his attention. They both look over to a little wooded area where a slender green pokemon walked. as it walked, small flowers grew with every step. They watched as the Pokemon attacking Piers and the rest of Leon's soulmates appeared. It looked much healthier than before, and by the seams of it, it seemed like the slender pokemon helped heal it.
"you have to be more careful, Electrode," a woman said as the pokemon moved out of the way. Pier's and Leon's eyes widened as the woman came out from what looked like a makeshift hut." you guys have been getting injured a lot recently. Is everything alright" the woman asked as the said pokemon rolled closer to her. The pokemon nodded its head before moving away. Followed by the Slender pokemon. "you trouble making bunch... now, where did Zorua go" she whispered as she walked back to the hut with a limp.
"Who is that" Piers whispered as he watched her walk away. Leon just stared after her and watched as she disappeared into the hut.
"I don't know... she might be responsible for all of this... or even be a victim to all of this..." Leon said, "but we have to get past the pokemon before we can talk to her..." he thought to be, for he got an idea and turned to Wisper to Piers.