Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation

Chapter 81 - Healing

Spice didn't take her eyes off of Leo for most of their walk, particularly focused on the bandages around his abdomen. She never realized how thin he was beneath all that fur. The Delphox moved delicately, trying not to aggravate his wounds, and he murmured little curses occasionally as he felt the bandages press against his wound.

"Maybe they put it on too tight," Spice said. "They didn't know their own strength. I can readjust it if you—"

"I'll be fine. It needs to be tight. It'll remind me if I'm moving too fast." Leo took step after careful step down a trail that no Pokémon had traveled in decades—and it showed.

Beyond the nonfunctional Waypoint, the early morning sun revealed an expansive, lumpy field of tall grass. The breeze was nice against her scales, and she hoped the morning sunlight would give Leo a bit of energy, too.

"We should have stayed for one more night," Spice said.

"The others might need us at Kilo Village. A day wasted is a day without our help."

"You won't be much help if you're dead."

Leo growled, but kept his eyes trained forward. "Have you slept yet?"

"Will you stop going on about that?!" Spice hissed, flicking her tail at him—but immediately stopped herself. She kept calm. The last thing she wanted was for her to be the one responsible for his first bandage replacement. She glanced at her bag; it had enough supplies for three replacements in case the wounds bled through.

That would be more than enough for when they got to the next village, right? They just had to find and follow the river along the way to Kilo.

"Spice."

"Eh? What?"

"You didn't actually answer my question."

"What was the question?"

"Did you sleep?"

"I'm not tired." Spice picked a stray scale and tossed it aside.

"How many days has it been, now? Four? What did you do while I was asleep?"

"Patrolled the village and watched Destiny Tower." Spice glanced back, and Leo followed her gaze, to the tower where the Spire of Trials had once been. "You can't see him from here, but Arceus is definitely at the top. Three times overnight, he fired off what I'm pretty sure was his Judgement attack on something up north."

She pointed in the vague direction of the northwest. "Guess whatever's there is a pretty big threat. Maybe when we get closer, we'll see what it is."

"Arceus," Leo breathed out. "And I mean that literally. He's actually real. Does that mean the Books were real all along, too?"

"Who knows?" Spice said, shrugging. "If you ask me, they're probably just stories because of how powerful they are. But you know what's also possible? Arceus coming down has everything to do with Orans and everything not working." She puffed a small cloud of poison, then dispelled it with a smaller plume of fire. "Let's take it easy for now. One step at a time, right? We'll get to the next village and see if we can restock on anything."

"And maybe we can get you some sleep. You're looking... agitated, Spice."

Spice's left eye twitched. "I've tried to sleep. Drop it. Okay? I'm sick and tired of hearing it, day in day out, get some sleep, get some sleep, I would if I could!" She raised her arms in the air, then crossed them over her chest. "Hope the rest of the team is doing alright."

"They should be back at Kilo Village," Leo said. "And I think—"

"Wait."

Leo stopped. Spice rose a bit higher, straining her spine to straighten her stance completely. She squinted and sniffed the air, then closed her eyes. "Hear that?"