The Stone Gas in front stared intently at Gardevoir, seemingly waiting for the attack to land.
But it was all a ruse.
The second Stone Gas behind grinned wider while releasing gas from its hands, readying for a sneak attack.
The Stone Gas thought it had hidden well, unaware that Gardevoir was watching every move.
Thanks to the mental field filled with Gardevoir's power, every situation, including the second clone's actions, was being monitored closely.
As a fireball and lightning sped toward her, Gardevoir lowered her gaze and a white light glowed softly around her.
In the next instant, she vanished from sight.
"Boom!"
Without Gardevoir there to block it, the fireball and lightning slammed into the rock wall behind, causing it to collapse.
The Stone Gas's pupils shrank in shock and disbelief.
'How could such a massive enemy just disappear? Wait, is this some kind of ability to swap positions again?'
The more Shi You thought about it, the more certain he became that this was exactly what had happened.
The strange beast was expected to appear soon, and Shiqi wondered if this was the perfect chance for a sneak attack.
For a moment, he was frozen in place, but then a sharp sense of danger hit him hard.
The alarm bells in his mind blared loudly.
If it hadn't just been gas before, he would have been terrified.
Danger was coming, from behind him!
Reacting instantly, he dodged swiftly to the side as the gas surged left, its recoil pushing his body almost horizontally away.
Shiqi No. 2 positioned himself behind to hold off the enemy.
Suddenly, Gardevoir appeared out of nowhere, ready to strike with psychic aura.
Using its psychic skill, it moved instantly.
Shiqi No. 2's eyes widened in shock as a bright light burst from his body.
He charged at Gardevoir in a self-destruct attack.
But he had underestimated his opponent; Gardevoir's ability to teleport caught him off guard.
Thankfully, Shiqi had prepared a backup plan to block the attack and buy some precious time to retreat.
There was no use blaming himself now, he had to learn from this and fight back.
Unfortunately, there was no chance for a counterattack.
As Shiqi No. 2 closed in, the white light enveloping him flared, like a gasoline tank about to explode with terrifying force.
But just before the blast, Gardevoir's form shimmered and vanished.
It had used the Shadow Clone technique.
Shiqi knew about clones, but it was chilling to realize that Gardevoir had the same ability.
Horror washed over him as he stared at the empty space ahead, realizing he'd been tricked.
Then, with a deafening bang, Shiqi No. 2 exploded, turning into a massive bomb radiating intense aura.
Since the vision was shared, the Stone Gas on the other side also noticed Gardevoir's disappearance.
Before it could recover from the shock, the real Gardevoir appeared right in front of it, her hand glowing with powerful aura.
Using its psychic skill, Mental Power, Gardevoir stood with arms open wide, as if ready to embrace, gathering unimaginable aura for the next attack.
The infinite pink aura condensed into a tangible form, as if it had transformed from gas into a solid mass, exceptionally solid.
Normally, mental shocks manifest as fluctuations in aura, but the mental shock Gardevoir unleashed now was amplified on multiple levels, far surpassing any typical form.
Even though Shiqi, composed of gaseous form, couldn't see it, he could feel the overwhelming waves of aura radiating from Gardevoir.
His body trembled uncontrollably, and all he wanted was to escape, but it was already too late.
Shiqi was intelligent, after all.
As a golden giant with human-level intelligence, he had tried every possible way to avoid this fate.
Yet, after circling around desperately, death was unavoidable.
Fear filled his eyes, but beneath that fear was a fierce will to survive; he believed he still had a chance.
Suddenly, a massive mental shock struck Shiqi precisely.
His gaseous body shattered completely, scattering colorful gases into the air.
At first glance, it looked like a rainbow had appeared out of nowhere, more like a big ball of colorful cotton gently floating, slowly breaking into smaller spheres.
The powerful attack had broken his form into wisps of gas, blending with the smoke and dust in the sky.
Using the last of his consciousness, Shiqi struggled to control the fragments of his body, drifting toward a corner where he hoped to avoid detection.
If Gardevoir didn't find him, he could regroup and recover once the danger passed.
This was one of the advantages of being a gas-based being; although shattered, his remains were scattered everywhere, but his body could separate into multiple gas clones, allowing him to retain consciousness.
The damage was mainly physical; after regrouping, he would shrink back into a smaller form.
Survival mattered most to him, and these setbacks were minor compared to that goal.
Shiqi's mindset had dramatically shifted in a short time, from initially confronting the invaders, deciding to take real action, to now simply clinging to life.
It wasn't his fault.
On the surface, his aura resembled Gardevoir's, but the gap between them was enormous.
Even if only one of the three Pokemon were to face off against the three golden giants, victory would still be theirs in the end.
They had so many powerful moves left unused, giving them plenty of tricks up their sleeves.
Shiqi had a clever idea, but deep down, it was just wishful thinking.
As soon as he tried to move, a sharp, stabbing pain shot through his head, as if countless ants were gnawing at his very soul; it was unbearable.
In that moment, Shiqi seemed to gain a sudden understanding and looked toward Gardevoir with what little consciousness he had left.
Gardevoir's face was expressionless, her beautiful eyes calm and steady, fixed on Shiqi's fading awareness.
It was clear she wasn't shocked or surprised at all.
Shiqi knew this was the effect of the recent attack, and he feared he was truly dying.
After a brief moment, Shiqi's consciousness faded completely, signaling his death.
Meanwhile, the other gases drifted toward the nearby space channel, just like with Shiyou, and were collected as well.
Even though these gases might not be useful to Steelix if absorbed, it was safer to gather them anyway.
The reason Shiqi's consciousness vanished was simple: mental shock.
As the name implies, this attack targeted the mind, and Shiqi succumbed to it.
If it had been any other enemy, his life-saving abilities might have helped him survive.
Unfortunately, he faced the psychic power of Gardevoir.
Both Shiqi and Shiyou had impressive survival skills, yet one was defeated by a ghost-type move and the other by a psychic-type attack, leading both down the path to death.
Now, two of the three golden giants were gone, leaving only Stone Diamond, the strongest and most well-rounded of the trio, still battling Lucario.
It wasn't that Stone Diamond was overwhelmingly powerful; it was that the other two had fallen so quickly, too fast for him to even comprehend.