Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation

Chapter 148 - How Things Change

For Eon, it was just another night. He was surrounded by friends and family he'd found or helped create, and yet he felt like something was missing. Well, no. He knew what was missing. But he tried not to think about it.

In the corner of the room was a perpetually enhanced Houndoom, a variant of some mutant experiment that Nevren had come up with. It kept a Pokémon in something called a 'Mega' form from the human world. Resting atop his warm, black fur was a Cherrim, still weak but strong enough to stand up on her own.

And curled up in the other corner was an amalgamation of different, perfect parts, engineered based on schematics found in the human world, a Silvally as they were called. Much better than Type:Full at least.

This was his family now. In some ways, it was cozy and comfy. But in others, so late at night, Eon always wondered if...

Something shifted outside. A Milotic was slithering, hesitating at the doorway. Eon wondered to himself, was the door locked? Did Kilo Village even have locked doors? He had no idea. He'd never bothered. Gods, that meant he didn't lock it. If it had locks.

But she never entered. Perhaps she was thinking, or waiting. It was obviously Zena—he could feel her powerful aura through the door—but she didn't seem angry. Perhaps anxious. And then, she turned, leaving down the road.

Eon wasn't tired anymore. And maybe...

He knew he'd regret it, but he got up anyway, carefully tiptoeing out of the door. His body nearly shifted to Milotic a few times, but he suppressed it, keeping to Charmander for now. Memories of good times gone by.

"Zena?"

The Milotic stopped and straightened. Then, she sighed and turned around.

"Eon. Sorry for disturbing you."

"Do you want to talk?" Eon asked, losing his form again and quickly reaching for his blindfold—he'd forgotten it in his room. He kept his eyes to the ground instead.

"...Allow me to see your eyes. I don't mind if they are my own, Eon. I understand your... problem."

She didn't mind? But it would make a mockery of her form, wouldn't it? He'd done the same thing once with Amia, and that went... badly. Practically ruined Emily's cave.

But this was different, right? That felt so far away from what he'd do today.

"Alright," Eon said, facing her. Even if he wanted to, there was no way for him to maintain his form after that. His limbs merged into his body, his tail thickened and extended, and soon he was a much larger Milotic, an exact double of Zena. He sighed and said in her voice, "What did... you want to speak about?"

There was a flash of disdain in her eyes. It was a common reaction to seeing oneself, for one reason or another. Eon paid it little mind and nervously waited for her answer, but so far, she was silent.

He filled it with more words. "I'm open for whatever you want to talk to me about," he said. "Please... I'll answer. If... if this is about the mutants, I'm going to help round them up. Put... maybe try to stabilize them. That's the right thing to do, right?"

"It is," Zena said.

Her body language relaxed a little, or, he thought that was what she was doing. Even sharing her body, he wasn't really sure what anything meant.

She continued, "I wanted to ask what you thought about Owen."

Eon tried not to flinch, so he only hummed and nodded. "Owen, right. He's... He means a lot to me, obviously, but..."

He hoped Zena could complete for him so he could agree, but she didn't. She was waiting for his words.

"...But..."