Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation

Chapter 154 - Void Isle

The ship groaned and creaked as it reached the isle and the crew let down the anchors. Owen quietly told the currents to slow down as they made landfall.

It had indeed only been another sleep before they'd arrived, and there was still no update from the team in Kilo Village, only that ADAM had gone missing. That wasn't good. Hopefully, they would find him after finding Alexander, as morbid as it was. There was nothing Owen could do about it now, as much as his hands shook at the thought of what it could mean.

"So this is the Voidlands' Zero Isle. Uh, Void Isle, I guess," Owen said, looking ahead to see a small island of sparse, thin trees with dark purple leaves and even darker trunks. In the center of the island, only a handful of kilos of flight away, there was a great spire of rock as black as obsidian.

Lumbering through the forest and around this rock were Titans. Owen counted at least ten, and some of them vaguely resembled familiar Legends. Several of them he recognized from their dim, glowing, six eyes in peculiar patterns. Though, he never met any of the Regis in person before. They were meant to be guardians.

"We aren't seriously gonna fight all of those, are we?" Demitri asked, whimpering.

Despite how pathetic he sounded, he was hauling Valle over his back like it was petty luggage. Valle himself was content with being a statue, as always, and nothing convinced him to move otherwise.

"If Owen gives the command, we gotta," Gahi stated flatly, sounding like he still hated that fact.

Mispy only stared at Owen.

"...Are you waiting for an order?" Owen asked.

"What else?" Mispy stated.

Owen sighed. He supposed she had a point there.

"My order is..." Owen closed his eyes. "Tell me what you think."

"I think this is somethin' doable, but I ain't gonna like it," Gahi said.

"There's only a few of us... we're nearly outnumbered by Titans!" Demitri pointed at them. "And we can tell these are all Titans with a Core, too! Isn't this, um, isn't this sort of the job of the other group?"

"I'll admit," Mhynt said, "I wasn't expecting this number. However... we can sneak past them, too. A shame Enet didn't come with us."

"Do we have any other ways to hide?" Demitri asked.

"Speed's another option," Trina suggested. "And, Owen, is there not that gift Xerneas gave you?"

"Gift?" Owen asked. "He never gave me a gift."

Trina stared. "No marble with blue in it?"

Owen slowly shook his head. "We were going to get a bunch of blessings, but Alexander's sudden attack expedited it and I couldn't get too many. I just have some from Azelf. Besides, Xerneas can't give blessings; he didn't get Necrozma's—"

"This is with Xerneas' power alone," Trina said. "Did he really not give it to you? I was speaking to him about my own 'Team Alloy' and how well they'd come along. I'm surprised."

Despite this, the Snivy looked pensive. "I suppose it was a long talk while he was having me evolve... But he mentioned that his power over life also ties into evolution. He can apparently give some sacred power that goes beyond... oh, never mind." She sighed. "We can ask him why he didn't give it to you later. I have my suspicions."

Owen gave Trina a tired look. Picking his battles, he refocused on the mountain, so near, yet so far.

"Let's just go," Owen said. "We'll try to sneak past the normal way. Hide my flame, and..."