"Trevor, run," Aiden whispered frantically as the Scizor named Jett slowly opened one of her hulking, powerful pincers while stabbing the pair with an equally oppressive glare.
"Aiden," Trevor responded tentatively, "Isn't this-"
"RUN! NOW!"
Trevor instantly began running away from the Scizor without hesitation, Aiden following shortly behind despite the maddening pain of her injuries. Rather than give chase, Jett merely aimed her open pincer at the duo as it began emitting a bright light and a hum which slowly began to crescendo in intensity.
"DODGE!" Aiden screamed as the once dull noise reached a shrill, deafening climax.
With a piercing bang, a massive, multicolored beam of energy jettisoned itself from Jett's pincer straight towards Trevor's head. Heeding Aiden's warning, Trevor lunged to the side right as the beam began closing in, causing the resulting explosion to completely disintegrate the trunks of a cluster of trees rather than Trevor's entire body. The Meowth ended up colliding with the roots of a nearby tree, causing his vision to momentarily blur as the Scizor lowered her pincer slightly.
"Hmph," the Scizor scoffed, now turning her attention towards Aiden, "Looks like you were aware of my Signal Beam even before now. You may not be a human, but all human sympathizers are equally as guilty in my eyes." Jett raised her arm once again. "Don't expect any mercy from me."
Trevor's vision stopped spinning just in time to witness Jett charging for another attack, her opened pincer now directed towards Aiden.
"No, no, no, please!" Trevor begged, "Don't do this!"
Jett pierced Trevor's eyes with a malice-filled glare. "I arrive here because of Percival's alert, and what's the first thing I see? Omega's kid and my beloved pupil sprawled out on the floor, both hurt and out cold. Give me a single reason why I shouldn't incinerate you right now, human."
"Wait, wait!" Aiden protested, "That wasn't us- at least, not all of it! Alpha was the one who knocked out Percival, not us!"
Jett's threatening aura only intensified. "Silence! Your pathetic lies won't save you, not when your existences stand to threaten this world's future! In the name of justice, I will cleanse this world of your filth!"
Trevor and Aiden had to dive away in order to avoid another fatal Signal Beam, both Pokémon realizing that running away was no longer an option with the sheer distance and power of the laser. Trevor turned towards Aiden with wide, desperate eyes.
"We can't reason with her, and we can't run away either. Our only option here is to fight!"
"But... she's a- a Legend! We can't-"
"We took on a Mythical and won, didn't we?!"
"That's different- that Groudon wasn't even real! Uxie himself said that we would've been obliterated if we went against the actual one- we barely managed to defeat a cheap imitation! And we had Rin with us then, how're we supposed to beat a Legend without-"
"Are you two done bickering amongst yourselves?" Jett demanded, "You're only delaying the inevitable. If you had a shred of honor in you, human, then you would turn yourself in and spare your partner the curse of your presence."
Aiden instantly rushed towards Jett and angrily hurled a blazing foot towards her chest, forcing the Scizor to block using one of her pincers. "You don't have any idea what Trevor's been through," the Scorbunny shouted, "don't you dare talk to him that way!"
With a swift push, Aiden was sent flying backwards straight into the trunk of a nearby tree, the air in her lungs instantly bursting out upon collision. She attempted to scream, yet could only manage a breathless gargle as she slowly slumped to the floor. In retaliation, Trevor threw everything in his arsenal straight towards Jett's vicinity- stray Blast Seeds, Stun Seeds, Iron Thorns- yet nothing could even remotely dent her steel-plated exoskeleton. Vivid memories of the illusory Groudon flashed into Trevor's head as she brushed off every projectile he threw without so much as blinking.
Trevor braced himself to lunge sideways once again as he saw Jett reopen both of her pincers, a familiar hum resonating throughout the air. What he didn't expect was for the Scizor to throw both of her arms backwards as her Signal Beams let loose, propelling her forwards at speeds which far exceeded even that of Alpha's Dragon Rush; before Trevor could even react, Jett's closed pincer had already sunk directly onto Trevor's exposed chest. The Meowth hacked up a splatter of blood as he was sent careening several meters away, the echoes of his cracking ribs lingering for seconds after the impact.
Aiden broke out of her air-deprived daze to immediately witness Jett aiming her charging Signal Beam straight at Trevor's immobile, crumpled body, trying and failing to stagger upwards as the pincer's hum reached its shrill climax. Trevor flinched weakly, imagining the agonizing sensation of being completely incinerated by a direct blast of Jett's Signal Beam.
Only for her arm to be completely redirected by a powerful blast of water. Both Trevor and Aiden stared in utter disbelief at a familiar, bushy-haired Dewott dropping in from an overcast tree, his water blades glowing radiantly.
"...Rin," Trevor muttered dazedly, painstakingly dragging himself to his feet.
Through a burst of water around his feet, Rin jettisoned himself straight towards a stationary Jett, one sword aimed straight forwards with the other hovering behind his head. A single punch as swift as a bullet sent the Dewott reeling backwards, hunching over as he clutched his now bruised and bloodied nose in his palm.
"'Dual-Wielding' Rin, the bounty hunter," Jett stated flatly, "You of all Pokémon should know that interfering with an arrest is a criminal offense. Are their collective bounties worth going to prison over-"
"I don't care about the money," Rin growled, "This is about something bigger."
Jett's intense eyes creased ever so slightly with intrigue. "Tell me, Rin. What reason could you possibly have for defending these criminal lowlifes, who you've only teamed with for a few months? Did they pay you off? Or perhaps they're blackmailing you. We're all very interested to hear your reasoning for helping to throw this world into jeopardy. Speak now before I consider you another enemy."
"That's right, this doesn't concern you!"
"Let the Chief do her job!"
"What're you even here for?!"
Trevor looked around to find a growing crowd of Pokémon now circled around them, clamoring angrily as Rin continued to stand in between Jett and Trevor, eyes closed in deep contemplation. It was only after the deepest breath Trevor had ever seen him take that Rin finally mustered the resolve to speak.
"You all really want to know why I'm helping them? It's because Trevor and I... are the same! I am the first human!"
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...
