Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation

Chapter 58 - In Public

Nurse Blissey squeezed past the clogged halls of the hospital near the center of Kilo Village, balancing a Soft-Boiled egg in her tiny hands. It glowed with golden light. She quickly tossed it onto the Aggron that was in the corner of the room in one of the heavy-duty beds, made from reinforced stone, cotton, and thick sheets.

"Status on Aggron?" Blissey asked.

"She's stable," Incineroar replied, looking over at a small screen embedded into the stone. It had white text on a black screen, reading out various numbers and metrics based on countless other devices—mostly for precaution—that surrounded Step's general area.

Step groaned, trying to move one of her icy arms.

"Please don't move, Ma'am," said Incineroar.

"Where... am I?"

"You are at Kilo Hospital. You're under good wings."

"The others..."

"They are fine, too," Incineroar said. "You sustained the most damage, so we're taking care of you. Don't worry about anything else."

"The Hunter..."

"The person you were fighting is gone. Don't worry about it."

"I need to go," Step said, rising up—but something kept her from moving. "What..." She looked at her arms. Strange, black fabric made from some ethereal material wrapped around her. "What is this?!"

"Stay calm. We're just restricting your movement so you don't further hurt yourself or others."

"Hurt others?! I shall make you my first victim, you—"She angled her wrist toward Incineroar, who stared with indifferent, calm eyes. Step fired a weak beam of ice at him as a warning shot. A golden light blocked the beam completely, Incineroar crossing his arms with a deft, routine movement. Step was positive he was trying to suppress an eyeroll.

"Don't think you can Protect against the next one," Step hissed.

"Mm. I won't need to," Incineroar said.

A new light behind Step caught her eyes, opposite of Incineroar. The black fabric had originated from a Wobbuffet, centralized at the base of its blue, bulbous form. "Sorry," Wobbuffet said meekly.

"What did you do to me?" Step said. She growled and focused entirely on Wobbuffet this time, channeling her aura for a Blizzard to freeze everyone over. That was much easier. Yet... the strike never came. She couldn't tap into it at all. Blizzard was simply not there.

But she knew Ice Beam worked. She held her other palm toward the Wobbuffet, drawing from her aura to launch another. But then a blue light enveloped her next, and the charge faded in an instant. "What—"

A purple shadow emerged from the ground, solidifying into a Gengar. "C'mon, seriously? Just keep it together. We're trying to help you here." His eyes glowed with blue light.

"Just so you aren't panicked, we're keeping you from trying to escape and cause more trouble," Incineroar said, pointing at the Aggron's arms. "Wobbuffet's Shadow Tag prevents any motions of escape. If you moved to try to cooperate, it will let you. But once you try moving to run away, you'll be pinned down. Don't do that." He then pointed to Wobbuffet. "Also, he used Encore on you, blocking your aura channels from switching openings. You can only use the last technique that your aura tuned itself toward. Looked like an Ice Beam. Then,"—he pointed to Gengar—"we Disabled the one remaining channel."

"Why such elaborate security?!" Step hissed. "Let me go!"

"Because you just snowed over half of the crater," Incineroar said dully.