Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation

Chapter 152 - Battle of the Abyssal Sea

Alexander blasted through the ship's mast. They hadn't seen it coming and had no time to maneuver it, but Dhelmise was already shouting at the skeleton crew to get to work pulling the ship away from the next incoming blast.

"Why?! Why is he following us now?! I thought the clash at South Null put him out of commission!" Owen frantically searched for something he could do, but at such an incredible distance, he had no idea. He didn't have the power to properly deflect those attacks... did he?

No. No, he did! He'd done it before, and that was up close! Maybe...

Another blast soared through the skies. At its trajectory, Owen was sure it would be hitting the mast again, and without that, their remaining travel time was going to double or worse.

He spread his wings and leaped in the way, crossing his arms to form a Protect shield. The golden light shifted and hardened, lined with tinges of dark tendrils. Owen gasped softly but decided to worry about that later as the blast approached.

With the Protect still up, Owen breathed and focused on that energy. Once it struck—much weaker from such a great distance—he squeezed his claws and twisted it around. He felt it, that horrible energy. He could control it. It was so familiar.

The dark tendrils of his Protect surged with power and helped him grasp it completely, and then reflect it all at Alexander.

He easily weaved out of the way. It would be several seconds before it would even get to where it could have hit Alexander. Parrying them to hurt Alexander would be pointless at this distance.

But he could still deflect it.

"Good job!" Demitri cried. "Are you hurt?!"

"No! Just fine," Owen said. "But it'll get harder the closer he gets..."

Was there a way he could try to weaken Alexander?

"How far is he?!" Owen called.

"Better question, how soon 'til he gets here?" Gahi added, flying up. "Ehhh..."

Owen couldn't rely on Gahi to give a good estimate, but he had a feeling they only had a few minutes before Alexander would start doing melee combat, and at that point, it would be far too dangerous. They had to drive him away before that.

At this point, the crew had rushed out of the deck, about ten strong along with Team Alloy. But really, Owen didn't think these ten would be able to do much against Alexander himself. Was there any point in them even being out here?

The next blast was incoming, and five of those Pokémon rushed forward. All of them could fly or levitate.

"No!" Owen cried. "Don't—"

The blast struck something with a horrid, ethereal ringing that deafened Owen. Something splashed, and Owen could only imagine, just outside of his Perceive's range, a Pokémon being pulled underneath those black depths forever. But when he counted the heads, all five were still there, surrounded by golden spheres in a hexagonal pattern.

"What?" Owen whispered. "They all have Necrozma's blessing..."

"We brought specialists for just this problem," explained Dhelmise in another of his ominous whispers. "According to our findings, we are quite resistant to the dark. It seems to be... hereditary."

Hereditary.

Owen gulped hard. These... were his children. His descendants. Did any other person blessed with Necrozma have children? Were all of them descendants of Alexander too, who broke off because they had inherited the light, not the dark?