The Kecleon watched with cold, lifeless eyes as the Cranidos' lifeless body slowly disintegrated into dust, then to face Aiden and Trevor. The mere sight of its intense, thousand-yard stare was enough to send both Pokémon into shuddering convulsions as it crouched down in preparation to strike. Trevor could almost smell the murderous intent emanating from its presence.
Sensing imminent death, Trevor swiftly lunged for the Stun Seed he had seen earlier, snatched it from the ground, then hurled it towards the Kecleon as it was about to attack. The impact created a cloud of translucent pollen which paralyzed the crawler where it stood. Without hesitation, Aiden grabbed the scattered Thunderstone and firmly clutched Trevor's paw, her eyes wide in terror.
"RUUUUUUUN!" the Scorbunny screamed at the top of her lungs. A surge of adrenaline violently shot itself into Trevor and the pair began sprinting away before the stunned Kecleon became permitted to move again.
The pair rushed through the narrow corridors of the cave, desperately trying to retrace their steps amidst a torrent of mind-numbing panic. "Where's the exit?!" Aiden screamed, struggling to make out the correct path through the dim, red light which the surrounding crystals afforded. "I can barely see anything!"
"Aiden, look down!" Trevor shouted while pointing towards the ground. Aiden looked downwards to find a plethora of glowing crystal shards scattered across the stone floor.
"I've been scattering these shards as we traversed the dungeon to make our journey back easier," Trevor exclaimed in between sharp gasps of air. "They should lead us to the exit!"
Both Pokémon turned their heads in terror upon hearing the sound of echoing footsteps louder than their own. "Oh no, it's moving again!" Aiden panted while desperately attempting to quicken her pace, "Let's get out of here before we get our faces torn off!"
Columns of stone and massive red crystals blurred into indistinguishable blobs of color whizzing by as Trevor's mind filled with nothing but thoughts of escape. The longer the pair ran, the louder the footsteps seemed to become to the point where the pair became scarcely able to hear their own panicked breathing. The truly horrifying aspect of the booming footsteps wasn't the loudness, however. It was the speed. The Kecleon's pace was nearly double that of both Aiden's and Trevor's combined, and the latter's heart sank at the realization that it was only a matter of time before the crawler would catch up to them.
"Aiden!" Trevor desperately pleaded as the footsteps began increasing in volume, "Drop the stone! This isn't worth it!"
"Alright!" Aiden shouted in response before becoming overwhelmed by doubt. "Wait! How much money was this mission worth again?!"
"I don't remember! Wait, I think it was a thousand Poké!" Trevor shouted.
"I think it was two thousand!"
"Wasn't it three thousand?!"
"No, it's ten thousand for sure!" Aiden tightly gripped the Thunderstone tightly in her palm. "The crawler'll kill us anyway, regardless of whether we drop the stone or not! We can't give this mission up, we can make it! Wait... hey look!"
Aiden pointed towards a tiny speck of light marking the cave's exit with a hopeful expression. At the same time, Trevor looked back to find the white glint of the Kecleon rapidly growing as the crawler rushed forwards with a frightening speed. From the its snarling lips emerged a bloodcurdling cry which made Trevor's entire upper body instinctively tense up with fear.
"We're gonna make it! We're gonna it!" Aiden looked back to find the Kecleon only a few feet away. Her eyes widened in terror. "We're not gonna make it!"
Sensing the lack of any alternatives, Trevor hastily fumbled through his bag and pulled out a small strand of rope.
"How's that gonna help?!" Aiden exclaimed exasperatedly before noticing the multiple blast seeds attached to the seemingly harmless string.
"Please let this work," Trevor pleaded silently as he cracked one of the seeds, then threw the entire strand over his shoulder and towards the Kecleon who was rapidly catching up from behind, mere seconds away from catching the pair. Wave after wave of deafening blasts lashed out in all directions as the blast seeds violently detonated one after the other. Trevor didn't dare look back as the cave became awash with a blinding light which consumed the crystals' relatively dull glow. The resulting shockwave was powerful enough to send both Trevor and Aiden flying out of the cave as massive chunks of the stone ceiling came crashing down. The gaping entrance to the Crimson Cave had been completely caved in seconds after the pair had managed to narrowly escape.
Both Trevor and Aiden continued to lay down motionlessly even after exiting the cave, clutching their chests tightly and allowing their breathing to gradually settle down. After minutes of wordless rest, Aiden managed to heave a great sigh, covering her eyes with her palms.
"Hey, Treph."
"Yeah?"
"How much was this mission actually worth?"
Trevor pulled out the mission flyer from his satchel and perused it carefully. "...Five hundred."
Amused chuckles erupted into bouts of spontaneous laughter as the pair reared their heads back in hysterics. Clutching their stomachs, the two Pokémon laughed into the sky until their stomachs began to hurt.
"Let's check the reward beforehand next time, yeah?" Aiden mused, rubbing her eyes sheepishly as she dropped the Thunderstone onto the ground and began kicking it around. "Can't believe I risked our butts for this stupid thing. Sorry, Treph. That was bad judgement on my part!"
Trevor nodded with an amused smile before heaving himself upwards, allowing a wave of bright, gentle sunlight to cover him completely. The familiar sensation of the gentle breeze caressing his face felt invigorating after having spent hours in the dismal, cramped cave. Trevor felt a visceral elation at being granted the opportunity to witness the radiance of the sun for another day.
END OF CHAPTER 3
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...
