Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation

Chapter 65 - Realm to Realm

"I should kill you where you stand!" Step roared, restrained by Manny and Yen on one side, and Azu, Roh, and Verd on the other. The Fighting Guardian and his spirits struggled to keep the Icy Aggron down.

Demitri and Mispy ineffectually hid behind Rhys, while Zena stood in front of all three of them, staring so coldly that it rivaled Step's own element. The Milotic replied to Step with clear, pronounced syllables, "Then try."

"Yer not helpin'!" Manny roared, slamming Step back onto the ground when she heaved forward, nearly overpowering all of them.

"Th-the Queen of Ice is powerful!" Azu declared.

"I think I feel my head cooling," Roh said with a little grunt, the fire on the Infernape's skull dimming considerably.

"Hold... her back!" Verd said, the Chesnaught's arms almost completely frozen over, similar to Yen's fluffy legs.

Amia's arms were shaking, even still, and her head flickered between normal and fiery, though both states were blue. "Step, there's no point," she finally said with a resigned grunt. "Owen... left already."

"Because of THEIR carelessness!" Step growled, but this time, she stopped resisting. Based on how her eyes briefly glanced above her, and then aimlessly toward her chest, it seemed she was listening to something her spirits were saying. She eventually snorted and glared at Amia. "And you're fine with this? Allowing Owen to go back to the very person who ruined our lives? To his 'father,' as he loves to call himself?"

Amia winced; Alex's arms felt the need to protectively grab at the air next to him, as if Owen had been there. Instead, he wound up bumping his arm to his side. "We couldn't just stop him," he said. "Owen's just trying to make his own choices. His Perception hasn't lied to him before, has it?"

"His Perception, bah!" Step shook off Manny and the others, and this time they relented. She adjusted her icy shoulders. "If there is anybody who can trick Owen's Perception, it's the very one who designed them!"

Nevren raised a spoon. "Well, technically, I was the one who—"

"Or the one who raised him." Step glared. "Amia and Alex may have been their adoptive parents, but nothing will change the fact that Eon was the first parent he truly had. Perhaps he has Mystic power over him that we aren't aware of. That you aren't aware of. Have we ever considered that? Apparently Eon had a long talk with Owen in the middle of battle. What other powers does he possess? What if he is controlling Owen as we speak?"

"H-he can't be," Alex said, his voice a squeaking crack. "He made a Promise! E-Eon did, I mean, and—"

"That so long as Owen remained in Quartz, he could no longer be a Hunter, yes? What if he moved away from Quartz? What then?" Step narrowed her eyes, frost coating the area around her feet. "You fell for a trick by a Ditto, a species born to deceive and disguise as one of your own! And for what? To let Owen feel happy?"

"Owen is not that easy to fool," Amia said. "He's a smart—"

"I beg to differ," Step snarled, stomping toward Amia. "Clear your eyes. The Charizard bows to authority. It's in his blood. And what greater authority than the one who raised him first? It's primal. Instinct. Even those two have it, letting him escape." Step gestured to Demitri and Mispy, who couldn't decide whether to glare or avoid eye contact.

"Owen's—he's not like that. He wouldn't follow Eon. He didn't follow Star." Alex gulped, the flames on his shoulders reduced to a mere glow. By now, Step was a single stride away from both of them, her icy aura clashing with the flames that pulsed through Amia's body.