Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation

Chapter 96 - Stubborn Hopeful

The annoying pest was still following him.

The red skies left little light for the trees to cast any shadows. Yet there was always that sixth sense of his radiant presence constantly bothering him like an itch he would never be rid of.

Dark Matter drifted along the Voidlands in silence, quelling the more defiant voices within his core. The loudest ones, of course, were of Anam's parents, the Salandit who denied his species, and the Goodra who denied her defeat.

He had tuned out their cries long ago, yet still they tugged at the back of his mind. Not that it mattered. He was used to screams.

Striking Kilo directly was no use. He did not have enough power in the physical world, and had reached a stalemate against Arceus. Gathering power in his spiritual domain came first.

Oh, it would have been easy to do so on his own, had his domain not already been split three-ways between a power-hungry Dragon and a powered-down Dragon. Neither of which was particularly cooperative. Perhaps if he killed one, he could defeat the other on his own.

"Stop right there!"

Wonderful.

One life in front of him, several more collecting around him. He could probably kill all of them quickly, but not without taking an annoying strike or two, and he wasn't in the mood for that.

"Arms up. Try anything, and..."

Dark Matter rolled his eyes and complied. Slimy fingers rose above his head, and his tail thumped behind him. "Hurry up," he demanded.

"...You're being pretty nonchalant for wandering around the forest, Goodra."

"I've been through this routine before," Dark Matter droned. "Go on, search me, do as you must. I'm very tired."

The first Pokémon revealed herself, this one a Gabite. Middle evolution, hm. That meant she likely had died at least once while here. Searching through his memories, he found her. This Gabite had lived in the Voidlands for two hundred or so years. She had fallen into a great despair and wandered too close to a Dungeon that hadn't been protected by Anam. Southern, most likely. She had been attacked within that Dungeon, and of course, succumbed to her wounds. Without Anam's blessing, her spirit belonged to him after that.

Gabite approached, looking him over. "You don't look dangerous," she said, but then pulled something from the bag around her chest. "But I'm still going to have to restrain you a little while we put you in the evaluation rooms. It's the same for any division of Null Village."

"Mm. Of course." Dark Matter could sense the other Pokémon closing in. Ten total. These scouts were competent but they didn't recognize his spirit yet. Only a matter of time. Dark Matter smirked. "You never really let up, do you?" And then he chuckled a hollow laugh. He made a motion to go for a playful nudge, but Gabite immediately backed away and snarled.

"I said don't try anything," she said.

Clever vermin. "Sorry," Dark Matter replied, and then kept his arms in the air again.

Anam was getting closer. He didn't have time for this. But an uproar would bring Anam right to him.

"Let's go," Gabite said.

Dark Matter sighed and stepped along, and several Pokémon that had been hidden in darkness revealed themselves.

This was becoming too annoying to bear. Time for a distraction.

He glanced left.

A Void Shadow shrieked, and all the scouts turned toward it in an instant. For that precious second, nobody was watching Dark Matter.