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Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as a tentacle reached out from the portal and began to reach for her. Immediately her voice seemed to fail her despite every bone in her body telling her to scream as loud as she could. She stood paralyzed, helplessly watching the tentacle attempt to grab her. She didn't know what to do, she was for sure this was going to be it. This was how she died. Foolishly risking herself when she didn't need to in the slightest.

As soon as the earth shatters beneath the very ground they stood upon and slammed into the tentacle and it receded, Ruby fell to the ground. Her legs too weak to stand, she could only watch as everyone else finished cleaning up the mess these beasts had made. The large tentacled beast from before was tossed back into the portal, and seemingly everything was going to be okay... That is until Ruby stared in horror as someone else got grabbed and sucked into the portal right before it closed.

Any hope of Ruby trying to stand instantly faded away as she had a first-row seat to that man vanishing. He was celebrating one minute, the next... gone. That could have been here. She could have been sucked away inside that hell, never to return. Who even knows what sort of torture would even begin to happen in there? She couldn't think about it, she couldn't... It was too much. Everything hurt, from her legs to her arms, to her eyes that couldn't seem to cry anymore. She sat on her knees, slumped over with wide, staring eyes.

Grace and Astral tried to comfort her, hugging her and standing close by, but she barely even noticed them as she was lost in her thoughts. She had tried so hard to be brave, to fight back, to protect the region she fell in love with, only for Whisper to be severely injured and she almost lost her own life. The reality of all that was such a shock to the poor girl, who just minutes ago was dreaming about fireworks over the ocean and sleeping in a warm bed, excited for the new year.

"T-that... could have been me." She vocalized finally, staring blankly ahead with a horror-stricken look in her eyes, her hands clutching at the ground for anything to attempt and ground her in reality. Everything was over, the danger was gone... But not for that man. Not for all the innocent civilian deaths in the city. It was all she could do to simply silently grieve and mourn. Mourn for the loss of life, for those happy dreams never coming true...

But above all, mourning for her own innocence that had just been shattered into a million razor-sharp emotional shards of glass. She would never be the same again.

notes: Ruby needs a therapist.

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Ruby instinctively let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding as he spoke to her and reached out to shake her hand. She quickly reached out in kind, only to be surprised entirely by the Raichu that sent lightning flying into the distance to strike a ghost type pokemon that had been sneaking up on them. Instinctively Ruby began to sweat a bit nervously as she stared at the Dusclops. She bit her lip almost right away, stepping back a little bit. She was scared, certainly, but luckily this kind stranger had it handled.

Slowly looking around trying to check their surroundings, only to realize that another ghost type pokemon had snuck up around them. A haunter suddenly pulled itself up out of the ground and she let out an almost pathetic whimper, stepping back and stumbling, falling to the ground. Darling immediately stood in front of her trainer, the babysitter completely unafraid of the Haunter despite its cry that sounded almost like laughter in Ruby's already frightened ears.

It reeled back and suddenly sent a shadow ball their way, only for it to completely fizzle up the very second it touched Darling. The ghostly energy seemed to simply fade away the moment it impacted her. Confused, the Haunter quickly closed the distance and slammed a shadow punch directly at Darling, for it to also have absolutely no effect. It took a few seconds for Ruby to realize what was going on. Darling was immune to ghost attacks.

It started out incredibly softly, but a nervous chuckle slowly spilled out of her mouth. He couldn't hurt them, there was no reason to be scared. Why at this point, the wild Haunter looked more confused than it did intimidating. "D-darling? Let's do some unsettling of our own." Her pokemon grinned softly, letting out a charming cry that inflicted emotional damage straight at the Haunter. It's confused and emotionally distraught look was the last Ruby saw of it before she tossed a Pokeball straight at it.

notes: Route 121 - psychic/ghost. Capture attempt on Haunter!

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Ruby honestly didn't have a clue what to do, and it showed. She stood there awkwardly, staring down at her feet as she clutched onto Whisper's side. Their body made out of hair surprisingly comforting to hold. When Balder spoke, only to grow quiet and stare Ruby had no idea what he was doing. And yet, Whisper very clearly did. She stiffened immediately, staring at Balder right back with the same cold, steely expression.

It was obvious to the psychic type Pokemon what he was doing. It was hard to hide true intent from someone so sensitive to the emotions of others. He didn't truly intend to murder Ruby, nor did he truly intend to harm her. And yet, he was still thinking these thoughts. Whisper immediately began to respond, in her signature silent manner. True to her nature, carefully applied psychic pressure would begin to press directly against Balder, intent to attempt to give him a wild migraine for even daring to test her loyalty to her trainer.

Ruby pulled back away from Whisper after a few seconds had passed, trying to calm her breathing. Rubbing at her eyes, she was certainly rather flustered. Looking at Balder once more and then back at Whisper, she slowly reached up and gently tugged on the hair to try and get her attention. "C-come on now, let's not give him any more reason to not like you, okay? No staring, please." Of course, Ruby had no way of knowing the headache she had attempted to inflict.

notes: N/A