Everything about the towering Gabite, from his wide grin, his glistening eyes, and even the way his towering stature was impressively illuminated by the surrounding torchlight seemed to exude waves of cold, callous confidence as he continued to tower over the pair. Even the furious glint of the bright blue badge attached to his crimson scarf seemed to make Alpha's presence all the more imposing. Aiden nonetheless his condescending sneer countered with an equally bold scowl.
"What do you want? Aren't you supposed to be off being a brave hero or whatever?"
Alpha's gaze remained steady, his confident expression unchanging. "I was expertly traversing this dungeon to be the first to find the Mythical," the Gabite boasted, "But I just so happened to stumble upon you guys yelling up a storm and couldn't resist the chance to witness your latest failure! I'd trade in a hundred Mythical encounters for the opportunity to see you three bicker amongst yourselves like fools."
Rin rolled his eyes and waved his paw dismissively. "Just go away. Nobody cares what you have to say."
"Shut it!" rang a voice from behind, "I don't want to hear anything from a filthy deserter like you!" The trio turned their heads to find the familiar ringed eyes of a Gliscor angrily staring them down, her entire body riddled with scars. Rin let out a drawn-out groan.
"Ugh, Charlotte." Rin muttered, "As subtle as ever, I see."
"How could you have the nerve to show your face after just... leaving?!" Charlotte contemptuously continued, "Alpha gave you a generous opportunity to actually make something of yourself in his prodigious team, yet all you ever did was pout, complain, then leave without a word of warning! You're nothing but a coward, a child!"
"You're calling me a child?" Rin responded while lacing his paws behind his head, "You, who needs Alpha's word of approval in order to take a breath? Give me a break."
"How dare-"
"Give it a rest, Charlotte," Alpha ordered before turning to Rin with malice-filled eyes. "Y'know, I'll never understand why I ever allowed myself to associate with someone like you. All the hassle it took to make you do anything I told you, for what? A pathetic, bumbling drunk who wears a nihilistic mask to cover for his own insecurities. I look at you, and I see... nothing. I just know that behind that carefree, unconcerned mask you put on is a sad, insecure little Pokémon who pushes others away cause of how much you can't stand to look at yourself in the mirror. You're just a pathetic shell of a Dewott."
"Hey, lay off!" Aiden angrily interjected to the Dewott's utter surprise. "Leave Rin alone, you arrogant... self centered-"
Alpha swiftly turned his head towards the livid Scorbunny. "Oh yeah, sure, call me self-centered. You think I haven 't heard about that incident involving that Gigalith a few months back? If I recall, Rin had to bail your ass so that you didn't end up a bloody pile. You always talk a big game, but at the end of the day, talking big is all you've got."
"Why are you doing this?!" Trevor pleaded, as Aiden became silenced by Alpha's scathing insults, "Just... leave us alone!"
"And then there's you," the Gabite scoffed in response, "Almost forgot about you. Why should I even waste my breath speaking to a weak, pathetic specimen?"
"I'm not weak!" Trevor found himself shouting, "I've grown stronger since we've last met!"
"You say that, but everybody here knows that you're still too weak to do anything on your own. Do you really think a coward like you can fend for yourself when your little teammates aren't around to do everything for you? Do you really think that you can protect them like they constantly do with you?"
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...
