Chapter 28: The Death of Gardevoir
Early the next morning
BOOM!
"What was that sound?"
Chen Xiaoxiao, jolted awake inside the tent, sat up abruptly. The loud explosion had come from somewhere nearby too close to ignore.
"Leo! (Xiaoxiao, I sense strong Psychic fluctuations. It's powerful likely an Elite-level Pokémon.)"
It was Solgaleo, who had been on night watch duty. Its deep voice echoed telepathically in her mind.
Chen Xiaoxiao's heart skipped. She had finally confirmed the presence of a powerful Psychic-type Pokémon. But instead of excitement, a strange sense of foreboding crept over her.
"Solgaleo, return to your Poké Ball. Gardevoir, come out."
Without bothering to pack up her supplies or tent, she hastily recalled Solgaleo and released Gardevoir. She turned to the direction Solgaleo indicated and took off running, her heart pounding in her chest. Her thoughts raced:
"So I was right. There really is a powerful Psychic-type hidden in this forest. But... if it's only Elite-tier, it probably isn't the mysterious 'Little Stephanie' voice mentioned on the Trainer BBS. That one sounded young immature. The Elite must be an elder, maybe her parent or clan guardian. And the explosion just now... it must have been the result of a battle. But was it a clash between wild Pokémon? Or someone's Pokémon and a wild one?"
The deeper she ran, the more distorted the energy around her became. In just a few minutes, she and Gardevoir reached the site of the disturbance.
What should've been lush green woodland had been turned into a battlefield. Trees were toppled. Chunks of earth were missing. Craters, scorch marks, and scattered debris marred the landscape.
Chen Xiaoxiao scanned the area urgently, eyes darting between fallen branches and scorched grass. No Pokémon. No trainers. Nothing.
Then she saw one of the craters deeper, darker than the rest. Something inside it shimmered faintly with a familiar color.
Her heart dropped.
She teleported into the crater using her Psychic ability and what she saw stopped her breath.
Lying broken and crumpled in the dirt was a humanoid figure white gown, green curls, and a delicate frame. It was Gardevoir.
But the figure was not her own Gardevoir it was a different one.
This Gardevoir had vicious bite marks across her arms and sides, and more horrifyingly, the crimson horn on her chest Gardevoir's life-sensitive core had been shattered. What remained was a black, corrosive pit, as if the very energy had been torn away from it.
Chen Xiaoxiao's eyes widened, pupils contracting as pain surged through her chest.
"No... no, no, no Gardevoir!"
Her knees gave out as she collapsed into the pit beside the fallen Pokémon, hands trembling.
"Gardevoir! Heal Pulse now!"
A flash of light her own Gardevoir teleported beside her instantly. One look at the body in the crater was enough. Her eyes reddened with sorrow and rage.
Suppressing the grief boiling inside her, she immediately radiated a blue aura of pure healing energy, her Heal Pulse enveloping the broken Gardevoir.
"Shanai!!"
But the glow faded uselessly against the wound. No response. No regeneration.
Chen Xiaoxiao frantically opened her satchel, hands digging out every healing item she had Max Potions, Full Restores, Revival Herbs, Max Revives, and even rare items from her system cache.
She sprayed, applied, and used them all one by one.
Still no change. No spark of life. No flicker of response.
"How... how can this be happening?! Why isn't anything working?!"
Tears streamed down her cheeks, her voice broken and raw.
"Wait—the Poké Ball!"
Chen Xiaoxiao snatched the fallen Gardevoir's Poké Ball and desperately pressed the button, slamming it against the still body.
"Get inside! The Poké Ball can preserve your condition! It can help you recover! Gardevoir please! Get in, please!"
The ball rolled slightly, but the body remained limp. The ball didn't activate.
Unresponsive. No aura. No will.
"Shanai…"
Her own Gardevoir, still glowing faintly with the remnants of Heal Pulse, gave a mournful cry. She knelt beside the fallen figure, tears flowing silently.
"Leo… (Xiaoxiao… don't. It's… too late.)"
Solgaleo's telepathy rang faintly from inside the Poké Ball, solemn and low.
"Solgaleo... is there nothing you can do?! Can't you save her?!"
Her voice cracked. Even though she knew Solgaleo didn't possess healing abilities, her heart clung to any hope any miracle.
"Leo. (I'm sorry… I don't have the ability to save her.)"
"Damn it! Who the hell did this?! Why? Why?!"
The last glimmer of hope shattered, and Chen Xiaoxiao erupted in a heart-wrenching cry of grief and fury. The sound echoed through the devastated forest like a wild storm.
It had been ten years since she'd arrived in this world. In all that time, she had fended off violent Pokémon ruthless Beedrill swarms, territorial Fearow, and worse. She had always made it through. But Gardevoir her constant companion from almost the very beginning, and even her favorite Pokémon back in her original world was now dead before her eyes. Brutally. Unjustly.
A cold weight pressed down on her chest.
How could she not be heartbroken?
In this world, both people and Pokémon typically had durable constitutions. Even when gravely wounded, they often entered a protective unconscious state known as Contest Condition, which allowed their bodies to recover over time. True death was rare it took something truly violent, truly malicious to bypass that protection.
This was no accident. Whoever attacked this Gardevoir had kept going attacking even after she had collapsed.
How could Chen Xiaoxiao not be furious?
"Leo. (These wounds were caused by Dark-type moves. I can feel a foul, lingering aura around them.)"
Solgaleo's calm, grim voice buzzed in her head.
Still kneeling beside the fallen Gardevoir, Chen Xiaoxiao clenched her fists. Her breathing steadied, her eyes narrowing with icy focus.
She couldn't bring this Gardevoir back but she could make the one responsible pay.
"Solgaleo, can you track the dark aura?"
She asked firmly, voice low and trembling with restrained rage.
"Leo! (Yes. Southeast, about twenty kilometers. The presence is moving quickly Dark-type aura, but it also carries traces of Psychic energy.)"
Solgaleo's tone sharpened slightly.
"Gardevoir!"
"Shanai!"
Even without being told, her Gardevoir placed her hands on Chen Xiaoxiao's shoulders and focused. The two vanished with a burst of blue light, Teleporting toward their target with pinpoint precision.
---
Meanwhile, just beyond the edge of the dense forest, a man in his thirties rode confidently atop a sleek, snarling Houndoom. His smug grin and the carefree tune he hummed signaled how pleased he was with himself.
Suddenly, a glowing moon surged into the sky in front of him rising unnaturally bright, luminous against the morning sun. For a moment, it hung suspended at its peak then hurtled toward him with blinding speed.
"Houndoom, dodge it!"
The man's instincts kicked in. That was Moonblast, the Fairy-type's devastating finishing move he had just seen it last night.
He jerked his mount sideways. The beam missed by inches, slamming into the path behind him with a deafening explosion.
He whipped around to look at where the attack had come from.
A teenage girl sixteen, maybe seventeen stood in the clearing. Her long hair fluttered slightly in the breeze. Beside her stood a dazzling, shiny Gardevoir, her color palette brilliant and ethereal under the sun. Both of them were glaring straight at him.
Chen Xiaoxiao's eyes were bloodshot, burning with hatred. She recognized him immediately.
And so did he.
"Oh? Looks like the kid sister came to avenge that Gardevoir, huh?" he sneered. "Don't think that just 'cause yours is a rare shiny, you can act all high and mighty! You know what happened to that one earlier it couldn't behave, so I had to deal with it."
His tone was dismissive, arrogant. He didn't see a threat just another catch, maybe even a better one.
He believed the Gardevoir he'd killed had been too strong, too proud, and wouldn't submit. So he eliminated it. And now here was another one, brought straight to him by fate.
Hearing his words his arrogant admission Chen Xiaoxiao's fragile calm shattered again. Her heart surged with hate.
She had just begun to grieve but now, she needed justice.
"Damn you!" she snarled.
Her aura burst outward like a shockwave, and Gardevoir's eyes flared with blue fire. The air itself began to warp.
The battle had begun.