Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation

Chapter 76 - Flashes in the Dark

Red skies oversaw a silent, somber land covered in purple dust. Scattered like giant trees were great plateaus, all at equal heights despite their random assortments across the purple landscape. Red-purple lightning bolts shattered the sky, drawing the attention of two Pokémon stationed at the top of one of the plateaus.

"Found one," said the first creature—a dark, metallic bird with red eyes. "But I think it's too far away. Too far, too far..."

"We should try anyway," the other said—a Sandslash with a few too many spikes missing. "Come on. Up!"

Corviknight watched closely at where the thunderclap had originated, its rumble still echoing across the plateau field. "It's falling."

"Where? My vision's not like yours."

"I'll just fly. But it's too late, too late." Corviknight spread his wings once Sandslash hopped on. "He might be dead already."

"Always worth a shot. It's been a slow shift anyway. C'mon, fly!"

"I will, I will."

"Any Titans?"

"No, just one, just one."

"Okay, a Titan. Avoid it."

"I will, I will." Corviknight took off, watching the orange creature fall closer and closer to the ground. "Hmm, hmm, he's falling fast. That won't end well."

"Well, if he's lucky, he'll survive." Sandslash pointed ahead. "Yeah, I see it. Let's—"

Another lighting bolt crackled to their right, a bit closer than the first bolt.

"...Priorities. Let's try that one instead."

"But the other?"

"We'll save the closest ones first, we—" Sandslash couldn't finish. Another thunderclap behind them caught their attention, but they missed where the bolt had specifically come from. He growled. "Did you see where that one came from?"

"No, no."

"Alright. Closest one first."

Leaving the original faller behind, they instead chased after another falling creature. They recognized this one as a small, shapeless, pink blob.

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"Ooh... the thunder's really loud," Lavender said, shivering. It sounded as if the whole sky was splitting apart. But even more frightening was that he could hear its boom even from where he was—at the bottom of the lab, ten floors underground.

He glanced to the left, frowning with even more concern. Rim's body wasn't forming right; it didn't look like a developing Espurr at all. It was rounded and bulbous, and it looked like something was growing out of the top. He whined loudly, pressing his head against the cylinder. "It's gonna be okay. Are you okay?"

But Rim had barely developed enough to hear him. It would take moons for her to be back in any sort of living condition without Eon to accelerate the process. But he would be back soon, and everything would be okay.

And then the lights flickered. An alarm sounded on the opposite side of the hall, buzzing Lavender's head. Lucas, far down the hall, howled and paced around worriedly, little flames leaving his mouth.

"It's okay, Lucas!" Lavender cried over the beeping.

The lights stopped flickering, but instead gave off a red glow. Lavender worriedly looked at Rim's tank; nothing was failing, but he knew what the red lights meant. Last time this happened was when he had blacked out and destroyed one of the generators—at least, that's what Eon said happened. Did that mean one of the generators failed again?