The leaves of a seemingly serene forest were dense with gold; trees and shrubbery shed their green hue and, in the process, curdled into a vibrant yellow. The gentle wind would occasionally manage to pick up an insurgent leaf, carrying it for a brief moment before adding it to the mounting blanket of gold below. The spaced-out beams of sunlight spilling in from above helped in framing the serenity of the forest at its most magnificent point of the year.
Underneath one of the towering golden trees sat a resting Scorbunny, her body slumped against a massive, hazelnut trunk. Her ears drooped, one completely bent with the other not far off, as her bright, yellow eyes turned hazy from the surrounding serenity. She knew that it wasn't safe to doze off, yet she couldn't help but entertain the idea as her head bobbed, jolted back up, then came crashing back down again. Even the material of the satchel draped across her shoulder seemed to be convincing her to succumb, absorbing the cozy warmth provided by the many beams of sunlight which managed to crack through gaps in the leaves overhead.
She likely would have succumbed to a deep, restful slumber if it wasn't for the sudden terror-filled scream which echoed across the entirety of the woods.
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Trevor only finished screaming once his lungs ran out of air and his voice petered out into a barely audible rasp. As much as he pinched himself, violently shook his head, told himself over and over that this couldn't be happening, his reflection adamantly refused to change as he peered into the surface of a nearby lake. He, who was once human, had been transformed into a horrified-looking Meowth.
"This has to be some kind of sick dream," Trevor muttered to himself as he ran a paw across one of his whiskers while using the other to disbelievingly clutch the golden coin now sitting on his furry, beige-colored forehead.
"That's right, this is a dream," he began thinking, "Nothing more than a surreal nightmare. But is this supposed to feel so real? Why does this coin on my forehead feel genuinely metallic and cold to the touch?" Trevor grabbed on the spiral-shaped end of his newly-formed tail and ran a quivering paw through the delicate fur which surrounded it. "Why can I feel this... this tail... as if it's a part of my body?! I don't think I've ever had a dream this clear before!"
Trevor became increasingly lost in his own thoughts with time, his brow furrowing as his mind swiftly became overrun by a torrent of unresolved questions. His nails, now transformed into sharp, cone-shaped claws, became subject to unconscious chewing as his surroundings slowly blurred into a sea of indistinguishable orange and yellow; his thoughts nearly consumed him to the point of not noticing a nearby shadow that wasn't his own.
Trevor immediately tensed up upon catching sight of a figure approaching him from behind. He resented the idea of someone seeing him in this unfamiliar new form. "Will I able to speak anything but my own name now that I'm a Meowth?" he thought frantically to himself, "And even I am still capable of speech, how can I explain how I've turned into... this?!" Trevor's mind raced to find some kind of explanation for his new appearance as he slowly turned to meet whoever stood behind him.
"I-I can explain- "
Trevor's mind instantly blanked as he found himself face-to-face with a Riolu, its entire body covered in black and blue fur with teardrop shaped ears, a short, perky snout, and an intimidatingly defined body. Although Trevor would normally tower over such a small Pokémon while human, he now found himself awestruck by just how bigger the Riolu was in comparison with his current self. What really captured Trevor's attention, however, were the Riolu's pupils - or its distinct lack of them. Its eyes were nothing but white irises, so devoid of features to the point where Trevor could almost see his reflection in the set of pale mirrors. Ironically, the lack of pupils only seemed to intensify Trevor's sense that the Riolu was boring a hole directly into his soul through its gaze alone.
Before Trevor could react, the Riolu swiftly winded up its arm before landing a crushing blow onto the Meowth's chest with its palm. A searing pain ripped across Trevor's entire body as the blow sent him flying into the air before crashing back downwards. As Trevor lay motionless on the ground, his body crumpled and limbs contorted, his assailant menacingly lumbered towards him with heavy steps. The wracking pain which enveloped his entire body seemed to instantly dispel any hope that this was a mere dream.
Terrified, Trevor tried to stagger back upwards and run away from his attacker. Instead, he continued to lay motionless, his limbs having been rendered completely paralyzed from whatever the Riolu had just done to him. As much as he strained to move, his arms and legs remained completely numb as if they were not there at all.
"What... did I do..." was all he could sputter before being instantly silenced by an agonizing sensation of heartburn. All the air had been knocked out of him from the Riolu's attack, leaving him barely able to breathe, much less speak. His body would have convulsed from the struggle to draw breath had it not been rendered completely motionless.
Trevor could only lay helplessly while slowly losing consciousness from oxygen deprivation as the murderous Riolu towered over him, winding up its arm once more to finish him off. As pale blue sky and golden leaves gave way to seeping black, Trevor managed to barely catch sight of a sudden flash of fire before blacking out.
YOU ARE READING
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rising Spirits
Adventure"All things... must eventually come to pass..." Trevor, a timid human turned Meowth, has been thrust into an unfamiliar world of talking Pokémon who view his kind as inexplicably tied to the looming, unseen threat which threatens their world. With n...
