Chapter Text
Chapter 11: The Truth
No... No no no... This can’t be happening... Dark Sword can’t be here now...
Scraggy, Dark Sword’s leader, quickly scans the room and locks his eyes on, not me, but Zorua. I lower my tail and try to sink myself closer to the ground to look less noticeable. The Mawile and Shuppet of Team Dark Sword remain by the entrance of the room we are in to prevent anyone from escaping.
I don’t think any of them saw me, but Scraggy without a doubt noticed Jake unconscious and with his face in the dirt. He stares at him only for a second before moving closer to Zorua.
They aren’t after us??
Scraggy stops right by Zorua and begins to speak.
“Well hello there, friend! How are you?” Scraggy exclaims with such a fake tone it almost makes me gag.
“Who are you, and what do you want?” Zorua stats weakly.
Scraggy sits down next to him and continues.
“I just want some information on something that I’m positive you know about.”
After a few tense seconds, Zorua responds with, “Which is?”
“The Instrument.”
Zorua’s eyes widen and his mouth parts with surprise.
“I won’t tell you anything of the sort!” He exclaims.
What is so important about this instrument thing? And why does Dark Sword want it?
“Well that’s kinda the problem.” Scraggy says playfully. “You’re our only source of information on the subject. So, like it or not, you will tell us.”
His voice gets really serious when saying that. It makes the air tense and sends a shiver down my spine.
Seconds pass with pure silence in the room. It scares me. It truly terrifies me.
Suddenly, Zorua jumps up.
“NEVER!” He yells.
Zorua shoots a ball of dark energy from his mouth at Scraggy. Scraggy jumps up as well but doesn’t attempt to dodge at all. In a split second, Scraggy bats the attack away with his right arm and into a wall, taking no damage at all.
Again, Zorua is shocked. He doesn’t move at all.
“Zorua..... Run...”
Jake!! He’s awake!
Scraggy looks back at Jake who is still laying on the ground, unable to move.
“Oh? You’re awake? I thought you were beaten too badly by this weakling to even keep your eyes open.” He calmly states.
“Zorua, you can’t beat him... You have to run...” Jake says, out of breath.
Scraggy walks toward Jake and puts a foot on his back.
“Be quiet, runt. This business is between me and him. Not you.”
Zorua still doesn’t move. He seems to be too afraid.
Jake is shouting, removing the silence within the room.
“ZORUA RUUNNN!!”
“I SAID SHUT UP!” Scraggy yells back.
My muscles tighten. Dark Sword’s leader simply steps down on Jake’s back and creates a crater where Jake once was. My jaw drops.
Jake..... How is this happening? I never imagined that he would be this powerful.
I don’t see Zorua anymore. He must have turned and ran deeper into the cave when Scraggy did that.
The Scraggy growls then yells back to his other two members.
“What are you still doing there?! Chase him!!”
All three of them run deeper into the cave, giving chase to Zorua. All I can do is hope that he won’t get caught.
I struggle to move for a moment. So much has happened in such a short time.
Jake!
I forget about my injuries. Jake is in much worse condition. I get up and slowly limp over to him with our Explorer Kit in hand.
As I get to him, I open our kit and look for anything to help. It seemed like minutes have passed as I look; I can’t find any Oran Berries or Reviver Seeds.
No... No... No! This can’t be happening!!
In my frustration I throw the bag across the room and burst into tears.
I can’t help my team at all. Not only was I useless in the fight against Zorua, but I can’t even heal them after the brawl.
I cry. It seems like the only thing I can do. I can’t stop. I collapse, laying there for what seems like hours. I can’t motivate myself to continue.
Then, I notice something, or rather someone, walking towards me.
I quickly attempt to get ahold of myself and face the figure.
“Whoa, whoa there, youngster! I mean you no harm!”
“Who are you? And what do you want?” I scream.
The figure is yellow and had very large ears.
“Like I said, young one, I mean no harm. All I want to do is help. I am called Hypno,” he says.
I pause. “What if you’re Zorua, the shapeshifter? What if you’re leading that other team back here to fight me?”
He sighs and tosses me a small bag. “Open it,” He instructs.
Cautiously, I open the sack and my jaw drops yet again, but this time in amazement.
It was full of Reviver Seeds, Oran Berries and Apples. I find myself drooling over this assortment of goodies.
I look back at him and asked: “Why?”
“I felt like you needed some help.”
“Well, you’re not wrong.” I sorrowfully admit.
“After all, you and your group went through a lot in this cave.”
How did he know that?
His eyes light up. “Oops. Shouldn’t have said that...”
“How do you know?” I ask.
“Weeeelllll...” He slowly starts. “I’ve kept a close eye on your team ever since you walked into this cave.”
“Explain more.” I urge him.
He sighs, sits down next to me, and begins his tale. “It started when I first found this cave myself, I was about your age I believe. I quickly made this place my home. Around the same time, the Exploration Federation came into being. Not soon after the Federation was founded, Pokemon mistook this cave as a Mystery Dungeon and every team under the sun started exploring this place nonstop. Fed up with this happening almost everyday, I devised a plan.
“I researched three very powerful Legendary Pokemon and eventually learned a spell to cast on others, which would make them see these legends and even believe that they were there. Word quickly spread that Legendary Pokemon existed in this cave and would fight anyone that entered the cave. Of course the illusions were created by me and were only meant to keep exploration teams out of my home, so I could live in peace. The same went for you and that shapeshifter you fought.”
He steps back, pulls out a small pendulum, and swings it back and forth in front of me. Within seconds, a group of large Pokemon suddenly appear. I jump back, getting ready to fight.
“Hold on, hold on!” Hypno yells.
As I focus, I realize that it was the three Legendaries that he was talking about; Terrakion, Virizion and one other. I didn’t know it’s name.
“See?”
“Yeah, I do...” I say slowly, afraid the illusions would attack again.
With the snap of his fingers, they all vanish.
“That’s my story, youngin.”
Again, I am shocked. The Legendaries were just illusions meant to protect the home of one Pokemon.
“Well, as much as I like to have company, I believe it’s time for us to part ways.”
I nod towards him. “Yeah.”
He lifts up Nick with ease, a feat I didn’t think was possible, and starts walking towards the back of the cave. “Follow me. And bring your friend, too. There’s a teleportation pad that the Federation installed in the back which will warp you to the front of the cave.”
We arrive at the pad and say farewell to each other. He makes me promise not to tell anyone about what I have learned, except for my teammates. With a final wave to each other, I am warped to the mouth of the cave. I quickly heal my team with our new supplies, and when they awake, we make our way back to base and rest as I explain what had happened.
Somehow, we have done it. We evaded Team Dark Sword and found the truth about “Jake’s brother”. Though, we’re certain that it wasn’t the last time we had seen either of them.
The next day we rest some more, hardly able to move still. However, while we doze around, we receive a letter. It’s from the Exploration Federation masters requesting our presence. The letter doesn’t say why, just that they wanted to see us.
We have no choice. We have to go. We have to face them, for better or for worse.