Hidden Gems and Hollow Lies -PG13
Disclaimer Crud: I don’t own Nintendo or its trademarks (No duh!)
Okay. I’ve read a lot of good fanfiction here on Serebii, which inspired me to post my own. Please review – it doesn’t have to be long, just a few comments are fine (unless you can do a long review, in which case I’d be very appreciative) – because I feel like nobody’s reading it if nobody comments. :/
Please note that the character Victor is not my OT, but he’s important.
And yes, Victor has a Raikou. Yeah, he caught a legendary. And yes, there are more than one of them. Sorry.
Trust me; Victor has to be a formidable opponent for my OT.
Chapter List:
Prologue: Not a Loser
Chapter 1: Rain Again
Chapter 2: Someone's Watching Me
PM List:
Dawn_Hero
lloyd094
moonlightning
Hidden Gems and Hollow Lies
Prologue: Not a Loser
Location: The edge of Ghost Park Town, a rich, well-to-do small town at the foot of the Marauder Mountains, Rizen region.
Time: 11:30 PM; a spring night.
The yellow moon shone brightly over the dark waters of the pond, a soft breeze stirring the surface and creating countless little ripples. The chirping of countless Kricketune, hidden in the bushes, was incessant yet peaceful, and the noise mingled with the croaking of Politoed as they rested on the pond’s edge while the night wore on.
"Hoot! Hoot!" The eerie call of a Noctowl emanated from somewhere within the forest – a dark stand of trees that bordered the pond. These trees stood guard over the pond like ghostly sentinels – as if they were always always watching, always waiting, for something to happen.
From atop the chilly, forested mountains beyond, a wolf-like howl echoed across the rocky slopes and woodlands – through the small mountainside community of Ghost Park, so named because of the many Ghost types that resided in the woods nearby.
The creature that flew over the darkened woods was round and bat-like, with glowing orange and red eyes that surveyed the scene below with a piercing gaze. Due to its black color, it was nearly invisible – besides its strangely hypnotic eyes. Two long and skinny arms protruded out of its side. Yet instead of hands, this creature possessed two sharp steel knives – for butchering its opponents. Two spindly black legs were seen below it. But instead of feet, a huge brown net was attached to them, the Sangrage’s main method of catching prey.
Two orange horns sat atop its head, and a purple nose was seen under its maddened eyes. A wide grin showed several sharp, blood-red teeth as the bat-like apparition swooped down into a clearing where two campers sat, next to a large, unused pile of decaying firewood.
With a whoosh, the Sangrage dove down with remarkable speed towards the woodpile, snatching up a huge stack of the firewood with its large net.
“Hey!” One of the campers jumped out of his chair, waving his walking stick menacingly. “That’s our firewood!”
Sangrage scoffed as he soared upwards towards the distant stars, the firewood caught safely in his net. “What’re you gonna do about it, kid?”
In a rage, the camper thrust the walking stick up towards the dark sky with surprising strength. He gasped in shock when the stick seemed to hit the bat Pokemon straight in the chest, yet passed right through it. It fell with alarming speed towards the forest floor, landing with a thud.
The camper shook his fist at the Pokemon in anger. “What? That was right on target!”
Sangrage only laughed softly as he flew higher. “I’m a part ghost-type Pokemon, buddy. It doesn’t work. Sorry.”
Stupid campers. When would they ever learn that the power of a Ghost/Dark type was unparalleled?
With an extra burst of speed, he soared towards the mountains on a warm updraft, smiling with his blood-red teeth in anticipation.
There were quite a few Shinx in this part of the forest. Shinx tasted quite chewy when cooked, and tasted even better when sprinkled with salt. Sometimes they shocked you a little when you took a bite, but cooking them slowly over the fire usually helped diminish that.
It was dinnertime. The hunt was on. Sangrage yelled mightily as he flew off into the clear spring night towards the mountains. It was time to eat!
____
There was a small field not far from the pond. Near it, there stood a large mansion flanked by a massive garden.
In the field, the Raikou crouched low into the underbrush. His white saber-like fangs gleamed in the moonlight, the purple thundercloud on his back sparkling with electricity. Hidden underneath the shadow of the tall grass that waved back and forth in the wind, the catlike Pokemon narrowed his yellow eyes as he viewed the scene in front of him.
A black, muscular bear-like Pokemon with a glimmering crescent-moon shape on her chest was leaning up against a tree idly, snacking on some Pecha berries as she chewed with her mouth open, letting juice run over her face while she munched in satisfaction – loudly. From his position hidden in the grass, Raikou shuddered slightly in disgust as he watched the Ghost/Dark type Ursaring evolution and her revolting table manners.
The legendary saber-tooth noted that the bear-like creature, known as a Demursa, was only about ten feet in front of him. She could not see him. On the other hand, his glowing eyes were locked on her, his opponent, whom he knew he must defeat.
…target sighted.
The Raikou’s trainer didn’t look that impressive for one who had caught a legendary. He was of an average build – not tall or short; not muscular or thin; not fat or skinny. He dressed well – a plain black suit and tie, because he had only recently returned from his office at work. He was shouldering a black bag as he stood some distance away from his Pokemon.
From his straight brown hair to his sparkling blue eyes, he looked like a normal, innocent businessperson – in fact, he looked like anything but the conspiring man he really was.
He grinned as he whispered furtively to his Pokemon.
“All right, Rai. We have the element of surprise here. And we’re going to capture this Demursa. Try Thunder Fang, now!”
“Gotcha covered, Victor.” Raikou leaped out of the cover of the underbrush, jumping high into the air as he sailed straight towards the startled Demursa, fangs now glowing yellow with electricity.
The contact was made swiftly, and the Demursa cried out in pain as Raikou sunk his twin sabers into her side, causing blood to flow slowly out of the bear-like creature.
She raised a claw that was glowing with some black aura, swiping at the Raikou’s face. She snarled at him, staring at him with glowing green eyes.
The Shadow Claw was a powerful attack, but Raikou was unfazed, it having left nothing more than a few small scrapes on the side of his face. Nothing that the local Nurse Joy couldn’t heal quickly. Or the nearest doctor, who happened to be his trainer’s wife.
Raikou laughed at the Demursa, showing his fangs as he stared at her menacingly. “Is that really the best that you can do? Join with me and my trainer Victor, and you will share in power unparalleled.”
“Never!” The Demursa readied a Shadow Ball as Raikou’s fangs started to glow yellow yet again. She narrowed her eyes. “Why would I join with some weak little kitty cat and his slave-driver of a trainer? I want freedom!” With a yell, she released the Shadow Ball – a purple sphere of energy that hit Raikou straight in the chest before he could dodge, sending him tumbling head-over-heels as he hit the dirt, spitting out pond slime as he did so. His yellow eyes flashed and then closed as he slumped forward in apparent defeat – but he was not unconscious.
“Not yet, anyway,” Demursa muttered to herself.
Demursa laughed – a cold, apathetic laugh that sent a chill up the backs of both trainer and Pokemon as she glowed with a purple light. The light vanished as quickly as it had appeared as she walked towards the fallen Raikou, her wounds from the Thunder Fang completely healed.
From his position within the tall grass, Raikou’s trainer, Victor, mentally cursed himself for his stupidity. Shadow Heal was a powerful healing move, even more so than Moonlight…
But he still had his trump card.
“Rai.” He whispered to the fallen legendary as he crept towards it, his feet making soft crunching noises as they trudged over a patch of dead grass. “This time around…let’s see how our little Demursa reacts to a bit of…‘Thunder,’ if you catch my drift.”
“Got it.” Rai grinned.
The Raikou’s fall was nothing more than a façade. Sure, the Shadow Ball had hurt him. But his fall was all his own doing – a trap. The Demursa was walking closer, holding yet another Shadow Ball in her right claw as she moved closer for better aim.
Raikou and Victor grinned as the former’s eyes snapped open.
With a mighty roar, Raikou jumped up into the cool night air, landing on all fours in the grassy dirt of the underbrush. Raising his head up towards the sky, he closed his eyes in intense concentration. And before Demursa could release her Shadow Ball, Raikou had summoned an enormous bolt of electricity from the night sky – even though the sky was mostly clear.
The Thunder attack hit Demursa straight on the head.
With a scream loud enough to wake the dead, the Ghost/Dark type slumped downwards into the dirt, scattering dust as her body pulsated with electricity.
“She’s paralyzed! Thank goodness!” With a shout of joy, Victor reached into his bag, pulling out a black and white sphere with a golden “U” engraved on it – a shiny, brand-new Ultra Ball.
“Ultra Ball, go!” Victor jumped into the air for emphasis as the Ultra Ball enveloped the Demursa in a flash of white light and drew her in, landing on the ground as the U in its center flashed on and off.
“Noooo!” Demursa cried out in shock as the capsule trapped her. “I will never give in! Never! Aaaaah!” Her voice slowly faded away as the effects of her paralysis started to take their toll. She was too weak.
Beeping constantly on and off, the Ultra Ball shook once. Twice. Three times.
Ping! The Demursa was caught!
“Hallelujah! We did it!” Victor raised his fist into the air triumphantly. He ran over to Rai, picking up the Ultra Ball as he did so. “We’ll call her Delia. You did it, buddy!” He then proceeded to give his Pokemon a pat on the back, immediately regretting it as he felt an accidental shock of electricity from Raikou’s thundercloud make contact with his open hand.
Victor shrieked, withdrawing his hand quickly. “Yowch!”
“Whoops. Sorry.” Rai laughed at this. However, his smile soon turned to a look of concern as he noticed Victor pulling out a long red syringe from out of his black bag. “Victor, what the heck is that?”
Victor shrugged. “You know we’ve been working on a lot of stuff over at the lab lately. And I think this time” – he grinned – “we are going to make it big.” He tossed the needle from hand to hand experimentally. “You see, this is a Poke-Power shot. We’ve all agreed to test it on our most powerful Pokemon in our teams of eight. As for what it does – well, let’s just say that it’ll help us make a ton of money. And it will give you a little leg-up when we enter the League Tournament this summer.”
The Rizen League Tournament was open to all Trainers seventeen and older who had defeated all twenty-two gyms, the Elite Eight, and the champion, Carrie. Victor was thirty-three. He had beaten Carrie at the age of twenty. Yet the League Tournament, which occurred every three years, was made up of extremely powerful trainers from all over the region.
Victor had competed many times. He had done well. But he had never won.
And he wanted to win. He wanted it with a desperate longing, as his inner feelings of insecurity still remained even after catching a legendary. He wanted to feel power. And this might be the answer to all his problems.
Rai was confused. “I thought you always used that saying. You know, ‘hard work brings good results.’ So what would a shot be doing?”
Victor seemed annoyed. “Rai, remember when you fought against that Dragonair last tournament? And we lost? How did that make you feel?”
Rai shrugged, pawing the ground restlessly. “Like I wanted to do better next time.”
His trainer smiled triumphantly, placing the Ultra Ball back into his bag as he held the syringe with his other hand. “Exactly. And this little extra energy boost is going to help us out. We can go so much further than with just training.” He looked from Rai to the sharp needle. “All it takes is just one little puncture – one second of pain, for a lifetime of glory.”
Rai paused. This didn’t feel right.
But it was their only chance. They were powerful already, sure. But there were no guarantees of a win, unless…
He nodded, resigned. “All right. Let’s do this.”
Nodding, Victor approached him, needle at the ready.
“Wait.” Raikou stopped Victor with a single paw. “You tested that, right?”
Victor’s heart froze in his chest. Rai didn’t get it. He was the test animal. The guinea pig. The one that Victor was experimenting on. No, it hadn’t been tested. Not yet, anyway.
Aloud, he just laughed, commenting, “Of course I did! Why would I use it on you if I hadn’t? Come on, Rai, trust me on this.”
“There are no side effects?” Rai looked at his trainer suspiciously. Victor had never lied to him before. So it should be fine. But – why did he seem so uneasy?
Victor sighed in exasperation. “Look, do you want to win, or not?”
Rai shrugged – if a four-legged Pokemon could shrug, that is. “Beam me up, Vicky.”
The legendary barely moved a muscle as the needle was driven deep into his back and pulled back out slowly. He only nodded in satisfaction as Victor placed the syringe back into his backpack.
Victor smiled at his Pokemon. “Now, was that really all that bad?”
Rai grinned back. “No, I guess not. Only…” Suddenly, a nauseating, dizzying feeling came over him. It was followed by a pounding headache that pressed on his brain like a truck colliding with an oncoming car. A rage filled him – anger that he had never felt before. To his utmost shock, he could not control himself as he felt the strange urge to attack the object closest to him – which in this case happened to be his trainer.
But the Raikou did not recognize his trainer anymore.
“Rai, what are you doing?” Victor screamed in pain as the legendary saber-tooth leaped upon him in a flash of yellow, sinking glowing yellow fangs into his trainer’s leg, unable to hear Victor’s moans of anguish as he bit with a ferocity he had never known before.
It was the most powerful Thunder Fang the Raikou had ever performed.
Then suddenly, the headache pains vanished. Rai regained control of himself. In shock, he quickly pulled his fangs out of his trainer’s leg, awkwardly attempting to stem the blood that flowed with a single paw trying to cover the twin wounds.
Rai stared at his trainer pleadingly. “Victor, are you all right?”
It was a miracle indeed that the businessman was not killed. “It hurts…so much…”
“Look, I’m sorry.” Rai paused, uncertainly. “I don’t know what came over me there.”
“It’s fine.” Victor was lying in the grass, exhausted. “I just don’t know…whether that’s related to the Poke-Power injection or not…”
“I think it is.” Rai spoke angrily as he took his paw off the wound. “You said you tested it!”
“Look, I said what I had to, okay? We need the money, and I need to win. Don’t you understand? I need this!”
“You’re already a great trainer now!” Rai was yelling now, his furious voice breaking the peace of the cool spring night. “And you don’t need the money! You have the freaking mansion, for goodness’ sake!”
Victor shook his head as the blood continued to flow down his leg. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Wouldn’t understand…What a load of Tauros! You always said that battling was a partnership between Trainer and Pokemon, as friends and equals.” He glared at Victor with new distrust as he paced around him with seemingly boundless energy, kicking up dust as he walked. “Do you even care about us anymore?”
Victor groaned, moaning as his eyes started to close. He had lost too much blood. He was probably going to pass out.
Rai exhaled sharply. “Oh, gosh.” He ran inside the house to fetch Victoria, Victor’s wife and a renowned doctor. She would know what to do.
Victor’s heart sunk as he slipped gradually into the realms of unconsciousness. Maybe this Poke-Power thing wasn’t such a good idea after all.
What had he done?
But strength-wise…one couldn’t deny how much energy it had given his Raikou, despite the nasty side effect of mind loss. And Raikou had still attacked perfectly fine – he just couldn’t control who he attacked. His target was whatever was closest to him.
So as long as the closest thing to him was an enemy Pokemon, it was okay, right?
And neither Victor nor Rai could control when the outburst of energy occurred, but Victor decided that it wasn’t an issue. Maybe the adrenaline of battle would trigger it. Or maybe there was a way to control it.
Victor smiled as he saw a blurry image of his wife and Pokemon running towards him, his wife holding a stethoscope. Her face was the epitome of concern. He held up a weak hand in greeting.
It was the last thing he saw before he lapsed into unconsciousness.
____
The shiny Celebi was completely pink-colored. She fluttered in the air next to a green Celebi who was creating a bubble-like blue orb out of thin air. They were in a small clearing near the edge of the woods, surrounded by darkened trees. The green Celebi, Alexi, was practicing her psychic abilities. She turned towards Sierra, the shiny, as she indicated the orb she had created.
“Sierra, did I do this right?”
Sierra smiled, viewing the orb with an expression of approval on her face. “Alexi, that is a very nice travel portal.” Travel portals were a new hobby of Sierra’s, an ability she never knew she had before. They were supposed to transport people and Pokemon from one world to another – simply a way of traveling quickly across space. After all, time traveling was getting a little boring for the shiny Celebi at the moment.
Travel portals were the way to go. And Sierra was teaching other Celebi how to do it.
The only problem was that when they were first created, nobody knew where they went to. It took extensive psychic manipulation to direct it to a specific place.
And Alexi was new to the whole travel portal thing. So neither Celebi knew exactly where the newly-created portal led.
Sierra nodded, fiddling with the golden locket that she wore around her neck. “Okay, Alexi. Now comes the hard part. Try to make this transport us to…let’s say Shorewake City. I’ve been craving a trip to the beach for quite some time now.”
Alexi closed her eyes in concentration. “Okay, I’ll try.”
But before she could do anything, Sierra shouted in surprise. “Whoa! What the heck is that!?”
Alexi jumped, jolting out of her reverie, for an angry swarm of Beedrill and Vespiquen were charging at full force in their direction. A terrified Shuppet was right in front of them.
The little purple ghost stared at the oncoming bees as he flew as fast as he could in panic. “Come on, guys, I was hungry!” He forgot to check where he was going.
The nearest Vespiquen narrowed her red eyes at him, pointing at him accusingly as she chased him. “You stole our honey.”
“I asked first!” The Shuppet was frantic now, staring at his pursuers with pleading yellow and blue eyes. He couldn’t fight the twenty-odd Beedrill and Vespiquen that were fast on his tail as he flew through the cool, dark forest. He was completely outnumbered.
“But we refused.” The Beedrill’s stinger looked as sharp as ever. “You ignorant little puppet, you.”
“Hey now – whoa!” For Shuppet had landed straight inside the orb that was Alexi’s portal – a portal to an unknown place.
With a flash of light, the portal flashed once, and Shuppet disappeared with a scream. “Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaa…”
In frustration at their loss, the bee Pokemon flew back to their hive, buzzing in discontent.
Sierra wrung her hands in despair. “Alexi, what did you do?”
Alexi was annoyed. “I didn’t do anything. It was that lousy Shuppet’s fault.”
Sierra sighed. “I guess I’ll have to go get him, then.” She toyed with her locket uncertainly.
Alexi grinned, indicating the golden chain that Sierra wore around her neck. “Why? Gonna miss a date with your oh so hot boyfriend?”
“Hey!” Flushing bright red, Sierra defended herself as she flew towards the portal, her tiny wings fluttering. “So what if I am?”
“Sceptile are soooo gross.” Alexi made a face. “Anyway, you can just go back in time. You’ll never miss a thing.”
“You don’t understand.” Sierra sighed, ignoring Alexi’s first comment. “Portals are different. Right now, I am always gone for thirty minutes, no matter what I do or how long I really stay. It’s weird; I can’t really use my time travel powers when I go through one.”
Alexi nodded, slightly confused.
Sighing resolutely, Sierra entered into the portal. With a flash of white light, the blue orb wavered for a second. And then, like magic, the shiny pink Celebi vanished. The spherical portal, however, was still there. It simply floated there, eerily suspended in midair as it bounced slowly up and down.
Alexi shuddered as she thought of the many horrible places Sierra could have been taken to. She only could hope that her friend would be all right. She fluttered back to her woodland home, taking one last backwards glance at the wavering portal.
She was alone.
Traveling through the woods around Ghost Park was scary for even the powerful Celebi, for she was still young. It was not only Ghost Pokemon that threatened innocent travelers here.
There were real ghosts as well.
Dead spirits of people and Pokemon that had avoided ascending to the world beyond. For there was a heaven. But there was also a hell. And those who stayed behind were trying to avoid their fate in the land of burning fire. They couldn’t stay forever. No. They could only put it off for maybe a hundred years. But it didn’t stop them from committing heinous crimes with the time they did have as they roamed the woods – and the whole rest of the region, too.
There were many other reasons why the Rizen region was considered so dangerous for beginning trainers that started on their quest there. First off, the terrain was often rugged. Treacherous, even. And the weather could be unpredictable in places.
And there were rumors, too. Rumors of great hidden riches and lost civilizations.
And it was far from safe. The Rizen region, although beautiful with its varied terrain and landscapes of every kind, was indeed one steeped in legends both good and bad.
How could a new trainer deal with such challenges? Many had done it before, starting their journeys at seventeen and making it out fine.
But there were others who had perished.
It was around midnight. A gray tendril of a dark cloud covered the bright yellow moon for a split second, enveloping the entire forest and town below in complete black. Soon, though, the fog lifted, and the clear night went on – relatively peacefully.
A Murkrow cawed its miserable song to the dark green stands of trees and black mountains that were shrouded in shadows. A steady breeze picked up over the pond, creating small waves and causing nearby cattails to dance back and forth in time with the wind. The spring night wore on slowly. Time seemed to stand still at the onset of midnight. It was as if the world was resting one last time – taking one last deep breath before the impending evil took its toll on all of Rizen.
____
Okay, there’s the prologue. 11 pages on Microsoft – gosh that took quite a while to write. :P
Chapter 1 should be up in a week or so, maybe two. We meet my OT and get a window into his life in our world, and then see how he travels to the Pokemon world.
So…please, please review this. I would really appreciate it.
Tell me what I did wrong and if you didn’t understand something; I’ll be happy to edit. I hope what I wrote wasn’t too confusing… :/
Okay, see you until then!
-GastlyMan
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Post this into your Sig. if you think the beast of Dartmoor is a Luxray! 
Chapter 1!
wow that was long
i know right
I've been making slow but decent progress!
