Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation

Chapter 62 - An Unwelcome Visit

Within his temple at the far end of the spirit realm, Arceus stood in the middle of his pristine chamber. He watched the world silently, tuning in to the areas that he could, though as of late, that wasn't much. With most of the Mystics rejecting him, he could only hope to watch from a distance, powerful distortions preventing him from looking too close at anywhere actually important. Quartz HQ, distorted. Kilo Village, distorted, so long as a Mystic as defiant as Step remained nearby. And of course, Hot Spot itself, a place so infested with powerful spirits that the very interface Arceus used to watch Kilo could not even get near before the display warped.

With an ethereal growl, Arceus tuned it toward Brandon. He was lying on the beach of the factory, scratching his thigh.

Brandon opened his eyes, staring at the clouds. Ya need something?

No, I was performing a routine inspection of the world.

Cool.

Arceus tuned next to Ghrelle. The Poisonous Altaria was entertaining Ano. The amorphous Gastrodon blob tackled her, giggling, even though he missed. The Altaria weaved to the side with grace, countering with her own dive. She pushed his purple body against a tree. They were face to face, her beak nearly touching his lips.

Ahem.

Ghrelle immediately bounced away from Ano, straightening her poison-soaked plumage. Arceus, Your Grace.

I assume things are going well.

Yes. I have nothing to report. No mutants have tried to approach my area.

Thank you. Goodbye.

With an irritated blush, Arceus readjusted the overseeing display to Zero Isle. Suddenly, it blacked out completely.

Come back later. I'm busy.

Arceus' left eye twitched. What exactly are you doing, Aramé?

Personal time with Ire. Kindly leave me alone, Your Grace.

It wasn't as if Arceus had a choice. The display was forced toward the empty crater that had once been the Chasm of the Void.

He supposed after such a long time interacting with them, it was only natural for a sort of disrespectful familiarity to form. At least Ghrelle still knew to act properly when he was present.

A disturbance rippled across the hall, earning an irritated eyeroll from the deity.

"Barks!" Star appeared seconds later, slamming into the side of his chest. Her size and weight barely disturbed his fur. "Bad news!"

"About the Silvally? I'm aware of the mess you ultimately caused."

"Okay, can you not with that for a second?" Star clambered onto his back, kicked off, and rose to eye-level with him. "What, did Hecto already tell you about it?"

"He did. Apparently, Eon created some kind of soul eater. I am looking into ways of taking care of that problem."

"Yeah, well, there's another problem, too, if you haven't noticed." Star tilted her body, revealing an odd blemish on her shoulder.

Arceus squinted, taking a closer look. Dark clouds radiated from her fur in the localized area, though it was fading. "What is this?"

"I was hoping you'd know. I dispelled the rest of it, but this hurts like I got socked in the shoulder by Manny's Bullet Punch." Star slapped the dark aura with a small flash of light in her paw, dispelling it completely. She sighed in relief.