Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation

Chapter 6 - The Orb

"Ugh, what a weird dream," Owen mumbled. He rubbed his eyes; he still ached. He must have jumped improperly to avoid that Psychic attack and bruised himself.

Wait. If he ached, then that wasn't a dream, was it?

Owen chanted to himself, "Not crazy. Not crazy. Not crazy."

"Eh?" Gahi said, peeking out from his sand pit. "What're yeh mumblin'?"

"N-nothing," Owen said. "I think I just had a weird dream. That's all."

"Well, have 'em some other night," Gahi said. The Trapinch clicked his jaws. "...I don't smell breakfast."

"Does Rhys usually make it? Wait, you can smell? Where's your nose?"

"How should I know?"

Owen squinted. "...Let's just check the kitchen."

The kitchen had food on the table—a simple fruit salad, cold and not as easy to smell—and a note from Rhys saying that he had gone to speak with Anam, and to stay at home until he returned.

"Wait!" Owen said. "That's right! There was an Espurr that was trying to take the orb last night! I remember!"

"Eh?"

"What's going on?" Demitri rubbed his eyes as he wobbled out of his room with Mispy. For some reason, he seemed sore. "Are you talking about last night? I think I had a dream of Rhys whisper-yelling. He sounded angry."

Owen nodded incessantly. "Last night, while you guys were asleep, I think I woke up and saw a weird Pokémon enter Rhys' room. She tried to, like, get the glowing orb while Rhys was asleep!"

"Did she?"

"No, but she nearly twisted me to shreds with a crazy-strong Psychic attack. I think it was even stronger than Nevren's!"

"How d'you know how strong Nevren's is?"

"Oh, um—" Owen rubbed the back of his head. "Uhh... I read about it?"

"Wait, hang on," Demitri said. "An Espurr? That isn't even fully evolved. Why is it so strong?"

"The weird thing about that is that she kinda glowed, too. The same way the orb did, and the cave did." And the mushrooms did...

A sudden silence filled the kitchen. Realization washed over them.

"He left the orb alone!" Owen said. "Right? Did he?"

Forgetting about breakfast, the quartet rushed into Rhys' room. It was the first time Owen had a good look at it in the sunlight that bled into the shallow cave. There was a simple bed of leaves to the left corner of the room and a solid stone desk to the right. A strange stash of Pecha Berries was piled under the desk. Owen saw a small piece of parchment lodged inside the pile of berries in the shape of a heart. At first, Owen thought it was from Anam and his saccharine taste in themed shapes, but somehow, that didn't feel correct.

Artifacts ranging from shiny to dusty lined three shelves in a half-circle around the room. Owen only recognized a few of them: an Everstone in the far right, which Owen subconsciously inched away from; something that looked like a prototype Badge, lumpy and bronze; something that looked like one of Nevren's zany inventions, some metallic bracelet; and what looked like an old, faded edition of the Book of Mew.

The final item gave Owen pause. "Huh. Didn't peg Rhys as a Mew sort of person," he mumbled under his breath. "Seemed more like the Arceus type." His eyes continued to trail along the other books lining the shelves. There was even a book that didn't seem to have text on it at all. His gaze lingered on that book for a while before something else caught his eye.