Soulmates.
It's a phenomenon that has been going on for Millions upon millions of years. No one can explain it other than that it is a mark on your skin that indicates the person you are meant to live with. Whether romantically or platonically, it was honestly up to Faith.
Raihan knew that he had a soulmate. Of course, he knew. No one in the world didn't. But when he discovered that he had more than one soulmate, he knew he would come in second place.
It was frowned upon to have more than one soulmate in the soulmate world. It made it less special The Only Exception was platonic because, of course, you can have more than one sibling, and of course, you can have more than one daughter or son. But having more than one romantic soulmate meant that you were destined to fall apart the moment you were born.
Of course, most of that was not true, and most soulmates with more than two people were often happy. Still, at least one always felt somewhat excluded from soulmate activities and relations, and Raihan knew that he was the one that was most likely going to be excluded.
He was the youngest of three. It had happened before with his siblings, and it will happen again with this soulmate. He knew that for a fact. And he had learned to accept it, but it always got to him whenever people around him talked about soulmates because he knew he would never have that same type of relationship with anyone. He had given up on searching for his mates. He knew they would find each other and have a happy life without him.
It was hard to accept at first, but what can you say when the entire world tells you you will be nothing but a burden to your mates if you continue to pursue the bond? Let them be happy. They would say you are not needed in that relationship they would say.
Leon, the supportive and happy-go-lucky man, always told Raihan to continue to pursue looking for his soulmates so that they would want to meet him and that the relationship would succeed. It had been a discussion that had happened almost every other week since Raihan told Leon about his soul Mark.
" what are you thinking about," Leon asked as he sat down across from him and the restaurant they were in. Raihan took another sip from his drink before turning to him.
" nothing just about that Pokemon, I guess," he said as he looked up the window.
" poor thing Melany is right. I feel bad for it," Leon said with pity as he looked out into the City. " but I can tell that's not what's on your mind... So come on with it," he encouraged his friend to speak. Raihan rolled his eyes at him before nodding his head.
" just My Soul Bond I guess."
"Really, have you finally decided to go out into the world and search for your soulmate" Leon smiled at him.
" no," Raihan said with a little bit of attitude, " just thinking about who they could possibly be."
"Well, one of them has a diamond symbol with a leaf around it... So that might mean that they are a grass-type trainer at least," Leon said
" probably..."
" and the other one is a white and red Zorua mask with black and white Aura around it... I'm not sure what that one means..." Leon said as he put his hand on his chin thinkingly. Raihan just watched his friend struggle to find an answer.
" don't think too hard, or your brain might start smoking," Raihan laughed
" oh, hush now. Either way, I'm sure they'll be happy to meet you," Leon chirped.
" yeah yeah, I'm sure they would" Raihan smiled at him, "how's Piers."
" still mad... I should have never brought up the topic of gigantamaxing... I should go over and apologize."
"Want me to lead you there," Raihan said with a smirk
" oh, haha I don't need your help getting to my boyfriend's City." Leon rolled his eyes
" you needed help finding the bathroom... and it's right there," Raihan laughed
" shut up, I didn't see the sign," Leon pouted
" anyways, what do they want us to do with the Pokemon once we capture it." Raihan mentioned the Pokemon again " has Rose talked to you about it."
" yeah he brought it up yesterday... Apparently today is the day that he's going to be sending his team of Rangers out to go and try and capture it." Laon said as he started to drink his tea
" then what's the point in getting us all lined up for this."
"Apparently, this is more than one Pokemon... He also told me that."
"Really? Why didn't he mention that before when we were in the meeting room," Raihan asked, confused as their food got there?
" he didn't want us to worry and go out there to deal with it on our own. At least that's what he told me. Because apparently that Pokemon was the one responsible for the snow... And he thinks that there's more in the cave that they're hiding in."
" damn... Wonder what they went through though to be so scared of humans..." Raihan asked as he started to eat his food.
"Hopefully, this doesn't become an issue more significant than it needs to be... I'm already stressed out about next year's League meeting... The Sinnoh champion is always very intimidating every time I meet her." Leon shivered at the thought.
"Pretty sure she sees you as an equal," Raihan laughed.
" I don't care. She's scary, and I don't want to face her," Leon pouted like a child.
" no one is asking you to face her. We're just asking you to have a full meeting with her," Raihan stated with a smirk. He knew that Leon actually looked up to her. She had been a champion for almost 15 years since she was 13.
" I don't want to," Leon said as he started to argue with Raihan. Honestly, they both knew they were joking around, but sadly it seemed like this was just the Calm before the storm.
In the wild area where the snow was now to people's knees. Giants Seat was a maze filled with nothing but snow. It had not stopped snowing in weeks, and the area had not seen the sun in months. The snow never had a chance to melt, much less the ice that now found itself on trees, rocks, and especially the lake.
As the snow fell harshly, three bouts made their way through the lake to get to the cave on the side of the mountain where they expected the mysterious Pokemon to be. They had traveled for almost three days trying to get there. Still, the snow kept getting worse and worse the deeper they got, and whenever they tried to use a sunny day, it would vanish almost instantly. The rangers on the boat just assumed it was a pokemon doing it and continued.
As they continued, they started to get their things ready to go into the cave, just in case. They had everything covered. If the Pokemon were protecting a baby, they would take the baby to lure it out and catch it. If it's scared, they have strong Pokemon to scare it to a corner so they can see it. The strong hitters would deal with it if they just wanted to fight. If it were out, they would set up a trap in the cave if it came back. They had everything they needed in any situation. They were getting their cameras and headsets ready and contacting Chairman Rose to ensure everything was good To go.
Once they made it to shore, they started to take out their Pokemon and followed their map to where the Pokemon was located. They were a couple of miles from the cave, so they had minutes to clear the area before the Pokemon got their scents. They were going to take advantage of that time and ensure the area was clear before they started walking. Once they did that, they sent their Pokemon first as they walked, ensuring they were not attacked.
Once they made it to the cave, it was silent. No sound could be heard other than the sound of the wind, snow, and ice falling from trees and rocks. Not a single cry of a pokemon was heard, nor any paw or hoofprints of any kind in the snow leading to the cave, making them assume that the Pokemon was most likely in the cave asleep or taking care of the young.
The group leader nodded before throwing hand signals at the rest of the rangers, ordering 5 of the 20 rangers to take a position in front of the cave just in case they were wrong and the Pokemon was out. Leaving the rangers behind, the leader ordered his Metagross to go in front of him to ensure they weren't surprised by an attack. They walked for several minutes as one of the rangers reported everything happening. The tension rose the deeper they went into the cave.
"nothing out of the ordinary has happened. The cave is dark and silent, and it doesn't look like anything has been here in years… it seems to be getting warmer the deeper we walk into the cave… it feels off since it was below -10 outside…" the guard that was reporting to Rose threw the headpiece. But it was confirmed the further they went, the hotter it got. It got to the point that they had to take off their jackets but couldn't because of the gear that they had on.
They walked deeper and started to get to a steep part of the cave where they had to watch where they were going, or they would have tripped and rolled down the cave. as they walked down the Path, the Metagross suddenly stopped walking and just glared ahead.
'Metta… gross….' the Pokemon called out cautiously as it waited for something. It growled as pitter-patter came from deeper in the cave.
"Metagross be ready," the leader said as he looked into the darkness. Again the pitter-patter was getting closer as the seconds passed before they stopped and just outside their line of sight. "Metagross," the leader said as he ordered his Pokemon to get closer. Still, just before the Pokemon could take a step, a ball came from the shadow, making it stop as it rolled back into the shadows, only to be pushed back with more force to have the ball hit the Metagross's leg. Metagross paused and stared into the darkness, not bothering with the ball. From the shadows, nothing happened until a tiny bark came asking the larger Pokemon to throw the ball back, only to have the ball roll back from the slope. Before it could even get to the shadow, a small tiny pokemon appeared. It was a dog-like pokemon, almost like a Growlith, with minor differences like the coloring and large bangs covering its eyes.
The tiny Pokemon jumped and played on the little old ball, making the rangers relax a little bit just thinking that it was a baby pokemon and that this would be easier than they thought.
"Alright, let's get this over with '' one of the rangers said as he stepped up slightly and threw a Pokeball at the Pokemon.
"wait, don't- '' just as the leader spoke, the ball made contact with the Pokemon's head, causing it to yelp and rub its head before running back into the shadows whimpering "fuck" the leader said as he ordered Metagross forward, to follow the Pokemon. They followed it until it hid behind one of the four pillars that were there in the cave. "hi it's okay buddy we won't hurt you." the leader said as he finally caught up to it. The tiny Pokemon shook and whimpered.
Just as the leader was about to come closer to pet the little Pokemon, his Metagross jumped in front of him and let out a cry, 'Mettaagrooossss!' the Pokemon cried as it glared at the little Pokemon. "Metagross, what are you–" the leader started, but a growl in front of him got his attention. He looked into the darkness but didn't hear the growling from there. His Metagross pushed him back as it kept growling and crying out.
Something caught the leader's attention when his Metagross did that. the pillar behind which the tiny Pokemon was hiding moved a tad bit, pushing the Pokemon deeper into the cave.
That's when the leader looked up…
That's when he realized that the little Pokemon was not hiding behind pillars…
And no, it was not just an odd reflection on the ceiling of the cave roof.
The more he looked at it, the pillars looked like gigantic paws, and the softly glowing reflections were bright black eyes that glared intensely at the rangers. The leader just stared at the Pokemon, who stepped out of the shadows and into the light that the lanterns they brought shined. It took a moment as it stepped out from behind the cave's darkness before letting out a growl and roar that sounded almost like a bark, but it was hard to tell since the cave made it into an echo.
"Metagross, use bullet punch." the leader yelled as the rest of the rangers ordered their Pokemon to attack. Still, a roar by the giant Pokemon blew them back.``make contact with the rangers on guard now." the leader yelled over the roar.
"I tried to make contact, but they never responded to any orders," one of the rangers said as he yelled at her Pokemon to attack again. None of the attacks on the Pokemon seemed to phase it as it just glared intensely.
The Pokemon again growled and started to prepare its next attack allowing the little Pokemon to run deeper into the cave.
"get ready; its next attack is coming," one of the rangers called. The Pokemon just glared and let out an earthquake.
'get out of there now. Group B has been ambushed. leave and regroup immediately.' Rose's assistant said over the headpiece. Just as the leader was about to respond, another pokemon's attack came from behind them. It came from the entrance of the cave, leaving them trapped.
Raihan was sitting in the Rose corporation meeting room again. It had been tense since the conversation with Leon three days ago in that restaurant. He had been thinking a lot about what he had said. He was honestly very miserable without his soulmate's. He wanted to meet them, but his fear of being rejected always outweighed his Longing To Be Loved by his soulmate. He feared the rejection he felt back when he was a child; of course, he realized this all the time, but it was always hard to get it out of his mind. And over the last two days, he had decided it would be worth looking for them. It might not turn out like it turns out for everybody else. He may have been special in some way.
Milo was sitting next to him, along with Leon, who was sitting next to Gordie in the meeting room.
"Everyone settle down, and let's start this meeting now," Rose said as he walked into the room. He looked pissed off and instantly had his assistant pass around a packet of papers to all the gym leaders. All of them gave each other confused looks before opening the file.
"What's this?" Kabu asked as he opened the packet and started going through the papers, everyone else following his example.
"As of yesterday, the wild area has been shut down with no exceptions." Rose started the meeting without addressing Kabu. "the Pokemon that has been causing muck in the wild area has gone too far, and it will be dealt with by all the strongest trainers in Galar, that being all you gym leaders and champions. And this will have to be done immediately."
"How come? Melony asked. "I thought you had it handled with the pokemon rangers you sent out," she asked, confused.
"I did until the pokemon's buddies appeared." Rose retorted as he nodded at his assistant. with his permission, his assistant put a slideshow on the board behind him. " as you can see, this is what happened to the rangers I sent out." Rose said as behind him there were pictures of men and women in the hospital in critical condition with cuts, burns, and frostbite. "the rangers had live feed cameras on them sending me to live footage of what happened, and as you can see here it wasn't pretty" Rose stated as a video started playing behind him. The video was shot inside the cave where the rangers commanded their Pokemon to attack into the shadows. From the video, they can hear the panic in their voices and the cries of the pain their Pokemon gave when the Wild Pokemon attacked them back twice as hard. The gym leaders looked at the video in shock and amazement as they saw small glimpses of the Pokemon with the bit of lighting that was there. The Pokemon looked huge compared to the regular-sized Pokemon. And for it to be attacking humans was unacceptable.
"and you said it wasn't alone. Correct," Leon asked as he looked through the paperwork. He saw a screenshot of a young-looking pokemon "and what about this one… did this one attack too." he asked as he took the picture out and showed it to the room. The Pokemon looked innocent and like it could hardly do any damage at all.
"no, that was the first Pokemon they saw. According to the lead ranger I sent, they thought it was the Pokemon's baby. They were going to take it out to lure the mother out. Still, it got spooked and ran behind its mother's legs." Rose said as he switched the video to a picture. "the rangers thought that the pokemon's legs were Pillars which is why they were caught by surprise."
"I can see why… I would have been confused by how the mother hid its paws behind some rocks…." Gordie looked closely at the picture. "and by the way, the legs look, it does look like a rock type. Maybe even a fire type, but I'm not sure."
" you are correct about the fur coloring; I can also guarantee that the pokemon is also a fire type," Kabu stated in a matter a factly voice agreeing with Gordie.
"but what pokemon would be both rock and fire type?" asked Raihan "from what I know, the only one we have here in galar is Colossal."
"that's… that's true, so what Pokemon would it be? It can't be a Magcargo, that's for sure." Melony stated.
"hold… hold on…" Alister spoke as he looked at the video that Rose's assistant had changed. Everyone looked at him, causing him to sink into his seat.
"What is it Allister?" Bea asked her younger brother (by soul bond )
"go back… the video… I saw something…" he said as he pointed at the projection. Rose's assistant did as told and paused it before waiting for him to tell her what to do. "go… frame by frame… I saw something in the background… There!" Alister said as the woman paused. It was the moment the little Pokemon went behind the mother's paws.
"What, I don't see anything? '' Raihan asked.
"Look there… closely in the darkness… the yellow specks in the back…." Alister said, pointing, "they look like eyes… and there in the bottom… there is another pair." he stated as he hid behind his mask, drooping a little more as the rest of the gym leaders looked closer. He was right.
"Was that the pokemon that ambushed the rangers?" Milo asked, inspecting the projection.
"No, it was this one," Rose said as his assistant changed it to glowing purple and blue eyes that looked like they shone in the darkness. After the picture, it changed to a video of the Pokemon with the bright purple and the one with White. Both used flying-type moves that froze the Pokemon and rangers, only for them to be hit by a fire-type move. "they were the Pokemon that were in the cave… there was another one that attacked from outside… that's the one we should be more worried about..." he said as he moved the projector to a video. This common confused most of them; the Pokemon in the cave, the fire rock type, seemed to be their biggest problem. Still, Rose said that comment and made it seem like something much scarier was outside the cave.
"When do you think we will be done with this?" one of the rangers asked as he looked around at his surroundings.
"Soon, I hope so… hi, what's that?" one of the men said as he pointed to the lake where their boats were.
"where" the man from before asked.
"there by the boats… something seems off… I'm going to go check…" he said as he started to walk in that direction.
"don't be stupid. Don't go alone. What if the Pokemon is out there" the other man said. "I'll go with you."
"both of you are stupid… let's go. Jackson, mason, keep watch." a female ranger said as she walked with them to investigate the boats. They walked closer and closer. As they got closer, the camera showed that the ships were fine but slightly tilting.
"looks like nothing is wrong. Let's go back—"
"no… hold on somthings wrong…" the woman said as she got closer "Mike… look at the boats… why aren't they rocking…"
With that, the man with the camera got closer and inspected the boats. She was right. The boats seem to have completely frozen in their spots. He tried to pull the boat out, but the ice refused to let it go.
"run…" the man from before said as he looked into the lake. The man with the camera looked at him, confused.
"What?" the man with the camera asked.
"run… run run run RUN! '' the man said as he turned, taking his Pokemon with him that followed him. The man with the camera turned to where the man looked and screamed along with the woman as they saw two gigantic eyes. Not just huge, the eyes themselves looked like they were 20 feet in size each. The rest of the Pokemon's body looked ginormous, more significant than even some of the tallest buildings in Galar. They screamed and turned to run away, their Pokemon following after they were scared away by the Pokemon's size.
"get out of there." the two men left at the cave entrance, and the video cut out.
"what in the world…." Kabu asked, shocked as everyone stared at the screen in shock. Everyone agreed with the comment as they stared at the final image in shock. It had frozen over, with the gigantic Pokemon letting out an ice blast.
"In all mighty Arceus, I have never seen a pokemon that huge before… not even as a gigantamax pokemon gets that big," Opal said, shocked.
"did it Gigantamax in the water before it went out," Leon asked.
"No, according to the collected videos, it was always there. as you can see." Rose's assistant said as she showed more images, "it was always watching them but never made a move until they were off the boats. It showed intelligence by waiting until they were away, froze the water even more, and didn't move until the rangers were close enough to attack without blocking the cave entrance."
"When do you want us to take care of the pokemon?" Gordie asked, sitting up. He had a determined look on his face. Along with everyone else, Raihan was wondering how they could defeat such a ginormous Pokemon. He also wondered how this gigantic Pokemon got into the lake without being spotted by at least five towns over. Something was wrong here.
"as soon as possible. We are here to make a plan of action. Alister pointed out that there were more Pokemon in the cave, so we can also prepare for that." Rose said, "the files I gave you are my team's plans for you all. You can change anything from them but know we will deal with this as soon as humanly possible, or we won't be as humane the next time we make a move against this Pokemon." Rose said with a glare. "no matter the cost we have to deal with the pokemon now."
With a nod, everyone agreed and instantly started planning, with Leon leading them to ensure everything went well. The only one needing to pay attention was Milo, as Raihan had noticed.
" you okay there," he asked. Milo looked over at him with wide eyes.
" how are we going to deal with this Pokemon... It's ginormous..." he asked Raihan.
"It's all right. We'll deal with it as humanly as we can and hopefully we can get this settled before Rose decides to do something rash," Leon spoke, " let's go through the files and make sure that we have a plan in place in case anything happens or we get separated at all."
" it says here that they tried to use sunny day while they were on the boats but it didn't seem to work at all... What should we do about the snow then."
" I'm pretty sure you all realize that the snow is not natural and most likely that ginormous Pokemon is responsible for this blizzard that has been going on for months... Our best option is to defeat that Pokemon before we interact with the Pokemon in the cave so we can at least be 100% sure we can escape." Leon spoke
" I believe I should be the one to deal with it," Kabu spoke," with my fire-type Pokemon I can slow it down the best I can but of course, I will need help from you all."
" I'll help you the best I can, but I believe that the Pokemon have shown that they are very smart, and if we attack the gigantic one, they will come to us to defend their own," Raihan said, "the best option if you stay with someone else while we cover your backs in case any of the other Pokemon come out."
" I can stay with him. The Pokemon is in the water and that's my specialty. If anything goes wrong I can always send out my ace to deal with it," Nessa spoke confidently.
" I shall cover your backs in case any dangerous Pokemon comes into your vicinity," Opal spoke.
"My mom and I can lend a hand with defeating that Pokemon. My mom knows a lot about ice-type Pokemon she'll be a great help. In my Pokemon are strong and sturdy, ready to take any large physical attack," Gordie spoke as his mom nodded.
"Allister and I can do a patrol around the area to make sure that the Pokemon are a safe distance away... Just in case anything happens, will stay close to Peirs."
" I'll make sure they're safe Leon and Raihan are the ones that are the hardest hitters and can draw the Pokemon out of the cave..."
" hold on... I just realized something," Raihan spoke. Getting everyone's attention. He had been silent for the last few minutes, and everyone had wondered why.
"What is it" Leon spoke.
" that Pokemon... When they threw the Pokeball at it... Why didn't it go inside..." everyone froze at that comment and realized, yes, the Pokemon did not go into the Pokeball. They all had been so worried about the gigantic Pokemon that they forgot one of the most essential things in Pokémon training.
A trainer cannot catch another trainer's Pokemon unless that Pokemon has been released.
That meant that the tiny Pokemon was someone's Pokemon, and this trainer likely owned the mother.
" you're right," Kaku spoke," but why is it that the trainer allowed its Pokemon to attack other trainers and Rangers do they not know the consequences of these actions," he spoke.
Everyone was in deep thought, but they all could agree on one thing they would find out and get to the bottom of this and save this Pokemon from whatever situation they were in.
