Chapter Text
Being slapped awake was a new experience for Hunter. He’d been kicked in the ribs by a captain during scout training before, shaken awake by his uncle after he’d stupidly not dodged an outburst of his uncle’s curse and had been knocked unconscious, and awoken by the screaming of his alarm demon more times than he could count, face glued to the papers or books he’d been reading the previous night before he’d succumbed to exhaustion.
Luckily for him, it was on the side of his face that wasn’t sore from the oversight he’d made earlier in the day and been subsequently punished for, though it had barely begun to purple into a bruise.
His head jerking to the side from the blow, his eyes snap open to reveal large yellow orbs littering the ground, almost luminescent in the early night. Whipping his head around to face his assailant, Hunter is surprised to find the Human leaning into his personal space, hand still raised from the slap and a Fletchling perched on her shoulder.
“WHAT?! You!” He exclaims, surprise overtaking caution as he remembers with a jolt what had happened.
A Hydreigon had attacked his airship, its tail wrapping around the hull and squeezing with wood-splintering force, three heads ripping into the sail with their razor sharp teeth.
The Human covers his mouth with her hand to muffle any further words and shushes him harshly.
“Listen, you are a bad person, and I do not like you,” She says with a glare that wouldn’t intimidate a Ratata, “but Kikimora is trying to kill you, and unfortunately, I’m too nice to let that happen!”
He sticks his tongue out and starts licking her hand, making sure to put as much spit into it as possible.
“Ugh!” She exclaims, just as loud, if not louder than he had been earlier.
Serves you right.
“I’m trying to help you!” Then she wipes her spit covered hand over his face and hair and he winces back, regretting his actions as it smears over his skin.
“Why should I believe you?” He says angrily. She’s just a criminal, this could all be some elaborate plot! He shoves a hand in her face in retaliation for the saliva on his cheek, pushing her away from him as she does the same.
“Because—!” She starts, words muffled from the way he’s smushing her cheek into her mouth.
Then they both freeze at the sound of a bone chilling Pokemon cry reverberating through the forest.
Ah. So not a plot, then. He thinks as he spies the large dragon Pokemon dragging itself between the trees with its six long, black, wing-like appendages. Its three heads swing in different directions, searching with their slitted eyes, moving through the forest with deadly efficiency despite its large size.
He scrambles to his feet, ducking low as one of the heads swings in their direction. “Get down!” He hisses to the Human, who thankfully obliges, fear on her face as she crouches next to him, clutching something in her hands.
My staff! A flood of relief fills him at the knowledge that it wasn’t lost, and that he has some defense against the large pokemon out for his blood.
Hydreigon are known for their intelligence and ferocious nature, notoriously hard to tame but powerful enough that many have tried, and been eaten for their trouble, even in his relatively recent memory.
The Emperor’s Coven considers them more trouble than they’re worth, so Hunter has limited experience with them, though he’s sure that the Emperor will no doubt be interested to learn that Kikimora is keeping an unauthorized Pokemon; He’ll have to report it to him, if he makes it out of here alive.
Hunter runs over his options in his head; if the Hydreigon weren’t after him specifically, he’d leave the Human to be eaten and escape. Any loud noise will draw its attention however, so a fight for his staff is out of the question. He doesn’t think he can fool it, but maybe he can distract it. Hydreigon are extremely bloodthirsty and aggressive, overzealous in the hunt for their prey, and even a few more seconds of time could be precious.
He shucks off his cloak as quietly as he can and leaves it where he’d been laying, loathe as he is to do so, and gestures to the human to follow. She hesitates barely a moment before her eyes flick to the Hydreigon and she relents, nodding. They slink off into the brush, careful to avoid debris that might snap beneath his boots and give them away, and to his relief the human does the same.
He keeps one eye on the Hydreigon as one of its heads spots the white fabric of his cloak. The beast lunges, levitating off the ground in the larger space of the clearing they’d been in, its great middle maw latching onto it and tossing it into the air, the paldron giving it enough weight to do so. The three heads start ripping into the article of clothing, blue scales glittering in the light of the orbs, just as distracted as he’d hoped.
“Human, staff!” He says in a harsh whisper from where they’re crouched several yards away, holding out one hand.
To his chagrin, she doesn’t immediately comply.
“What? No! We can’t just blast it! Besides, then you’ll blast me!”
“It’s us or the Pokemon!” He says harshly, not addressing the second part of her statement (because she’s not wrong), panic mounting as the Hydreigon’s middle head crunches through his paldron. “Just— give me the staff! It won’t spare you just because you’re not its main target!” He says almost desperately, turning towards her.
He can see the indecision warring on her face, eyes darting as if sorting through her options. Her face hardens, and she says, “No!”
“Human—!” And he realizes that they’re out of time as he hears the crack of a tree splitting in half not far from where they are. He gives up on negotiating, he’s not even sure why he tried.
He digs his feet into the dirt and leaps, tackling the Human to the ground and grappling for his staff, the Fletchling taking flight from her shoulder and hovering above them with an alarmed chirp. She yelps but keeps hold of the weapon as they scuffle in the dirt, yelling and biting. She kicks him in the ribs and he grunts, losing his grip on her briefly with a wheeze even as a slightly apologetic look crosses her face and she hesitates under him long enough for him to regain his bearings.
He pins her, one arm over her neck so she can’t bite him again and the other grabbing for his staff clutched to her chest.
Several things happen all at once.
There’s a crash, the splintering of wood, and a terrifying roar as the Hydreigon forces apart the trees they were hiding behind, looming over the two teens on the ground.
The end of the staff lights up bright, electric red between them, sizzling alarmingly as it burns their skin, their eyes widening in twin looks of horror. Locking eyes with her for a split second, the whites tinged red, Hunter dives to the side, pushing off of her as the staff goes off, the charged beam of energy whizzing past his arm as he hits the ground.
It slams into the middle head of the Hydreigon at point blank range and its head jerks back from the force, black feathery frills steaming and partially burnt off. All three heads crash to the forest floor as it slumps forward, its cruel black eyes falling closed in unconsciousness.