Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation

Chapter 38 - The Enigmatic Healer

Manny crossed his arms with doubt, flying through the air with his body parallel to the ocean. "Yer gonna have ter explain that one a second time, Rhys," he said. "They all got ate, but they're just fine?"

"Y-yes, I promise, they are perfectly safe. More than safe; if anything, they might be getting healed right now."

Manny felt someone knocking on his spiritual doors. He held his hand out and Star emerged, looking a bit shaken.

"Y'alright?" Manny asked.

"Yeah, sorry, sorry," Star said. "I was just... sorting things out with Owen and Gahi."

She steadied her breath, earning a few concerned looks from Manny, and then addressed the others. "It's true. That was Emily. She's a wonderful Pokémon, but—well, I don't know if any of you are going to remember her in a little while. Y'see... well..." Star hesitated. "Actually... I'm a little surprised you're remembering her at all. Maybe because you guys are all together, it's starting to..." She trailed off. "...Guys. Do you remember seeing the Lugia at all?"

"Wh—of course! It only took up like half our view!" Manny said.

"Huh," Star said. "Well... I guess we'll see how much I can explain, then. See... Lugia Emily... ahh... she's really kind. So kind that Arceus gifted her a tiny, tiny portion of divine energy—enough to make her a true legend, but not enough to expand that influence beyond her body. She had it on the condition that she'd only be able to use that power to help others—and so, she trained to become the ultimate healer."

"The healer that... eats people," Anam said, nibbling his hand. "Does it hurt?"

"If you ask me, it's pretty cozy." Star crossed her arms. "And it's pretty spacious in there, too. Emily's basically a dense balloon filled with air. Dense enough to still dive underwater, but with all that air in the middle, it's really easy to live in. Her aura is strongest within her, so... anything that's inside of her basically can't get hurt."

"It's also quite difficult to escape," Rhys muttered.

"Oh, yeah!" Star giggled. "Back when you were a real Hunter going after divine energy, Emily was one of your targets!" She shoved Rhys by the shoulder. "She ate you and refused to let you go unless you promised not to fight her!"

"I'm surprised she didn't force me to make a Divine Promise," Rhys muttered. "But I suppose we did... chat for a while. Her and that Vaporeon within her."

"You mean, even your ultimate moves didn't work on Emily?" Anam said. "Would... would mine?"

"Maybe?" Star shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, Ghost has an advantage over her type, but Em's pretty exceptional. But I don't think she'd beat you in a fight, either. Like I said—she's an ultimate healer. Like, on a scale of one to ten, her capacity to harm is... negative one, I guess? Or close to it. Maybe if she rolled on you it'd do some damage, but..."

"I'd rather not envision this," Rhys stated flatly.

"So, they're definitely okay," Anam said.

"Yeah," Star said. "I promise—if they're in Emily's guts, they're as safe as you can get."

"Quite counterintuitive," James remarked.

"Hrm." Rhys didn't like the situation, but he couldn't deny that Owen and the others, for now, would be in good hands. He focused his attention ahead, toward the expanse of ocean.

"Where are we going?" Anam asked.

"We're following Emily back to her home base," Star said. "With any luck, we'll be able to find her pretty easily. She's on the other side of the world, so she's equidistant from all parts of the shoreline. Makes it useful to go to anywhere she can sense trouble. It shouldn't be long from now. It's a tiny island that gets flooded pretty often."