The following takes place before Owen entered Horizon
Owen was homesick already. In a futile attempt to mask this longing for heading home, his sense of duty overpowered everything else. Still, he was tempted. And so, while he was reading through the many books he assigned himself, he also kept his own book open. Out of curiosity, he attempted to read from it. He even skipped to the end of the story to see how it all turned out. Unfortunately, the pages were blank. He knew there was writing there, yet
he couldn't read it. He had asked a fellow library-goer to read it to him instead, but whenever they spoke about the book's contents, Owen heard nothing but silence. He couldn't even read their lips.
"That's quite understandable," Nevren said, the Alakazam's voice echoing from inside the book that tied the library to his world. "It seems that by some failsafe of our world, the concept of
reading ahead is forbidden by entities that exist within it. After all, this book is a mere snapshot of the world in its entirety. They may just be logging what happens. Perhaps that comes with a danger of altering it, so, you simply cannot know it. Have you considered reading the first pages?"
"No, that's blank, too," Owen said.
"Fascinating. Perhaps, then, whatever story is being told has simply not happened yet, at the time that it is tapping into our world."
Owen gulped. "I hate determinism."
"Ahh, have you been reading philosophy books again, Owen?"
"Maybe."
Owen heard a gentle shuffling from the book. He logged some of his findings of his current read and closed it, and moved on to the next in the pile. "Something going on?" Owen asked.
"Owen! Owen, my goodness, what's happened!?"
Owen stopped reading. "MOM?!"
"I came the moment James told me--Owen! Please, be careful! I don't want you to get hurt!"
"I--I'll be careful! I'm just reading and stuff!"
"Your mother," Nevren said, "still worries. Do you have any sort of equipment on you?"
"No. I have a fire extinguisher, though."
"...That... will not do," Nevren said. "Should you run into any trouble, what will happen?"
"I, uh... I mean..."
"Nevren, there must be something you can do! Save my son! Help him!"
"Stop--please stop shaking me--" Nevren said. He puffed. "I'm sure there is something that I can do. It's a bit unorthodox... but I have already requested some help from the Association Head."
"Y--you have? Goodra Anam?" Owen said. "Is this really that big?"
"If a force was strong enough to pull you away from your world, then yes, I imagine this is a very big issue," Nevren said. "As such, Anam has already set out a series of prayers for you."
Owen's flame dimmed. "Oh, just some prayers, huh?" he said. "Thanks."
"You do not sound very enthused," Nevren said.
"Sorry," Owen said. "I just don't really... you know. It's not my thing."
"Well," the scientist replied, "perhaps now is a good time to start."
Owen couldn't believe such a thing was coming from Nevren, of all Pokemon.
"It appears to be impossible for us to send you our supplies or any sort of physical assistance," Nevren said. "Therefore, we are sending you aural assistance instead. Should you ever find yourself in peril, Owen, I would like you to envision your friends and family. We will be on standby to help, and I will do my best to work on an... astral projector of sorts to establish the connection."
"Nev, are you eating weird seeds or something? This sounds
nuts!"
"Owen, would you mind envisioning your mother for a moment?"
"Hnnn..." Owen sighed. "Fine." He closed his eyes and focused. He envisioned a Gardevoir with blue hair. He opened his eyes and saw a faded mist, vaguely shaped like one, in front of him. "W-wah!" And the mist vanished. "What was that?!"
"Aha! It works!" Nevren cheered. "Amazing! Anam's work is truly something else."
"Ooh, that felt quite odd," Owen's mother said.
"There we are, Owen. I will be fine-tuning it in the meantime, but that is our assistance. Should you ever run into trouble, I would like you to envision your heroes. One way or another, by prayer and desire, we will establish a connection beyond our world and into whatever realm you are within. It will be difficult--and we
certainly won't be at full strength--but perhaps our projections will be able to lend you a helping hand for a short while."
"I don't... understand what..." Owen shook his head. "But okay." He closed the book, but then looked at his home's connection. He smiled slightly. "Thanks, guys," he said. He finished the last book and moved it aside, ready to present his findings to the others:
Pletora's Story
Anime Remix Special: The Remix of Darkrai
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Guiding Light Episode 2
Past of the future, future of the past...
Hunter, Haunted
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Guiding Light Episode 3
Total: +6
Grand total: 14
By mere coincidence, "Pletora's Story" satisfies the challenge. Owen's response is below:
~~~~~~~~~~~
NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME FOR THAT PRAYER TO START WORKING! Owen screamed mentally into the void. Eyes darted to the left and right. The dark things seeping from the tear in space and time was worrisome enough, but at least those odd creatures appeared to be acting docile--or at least, non-aggressive. The real worry was Necrozma. What in the world
was that thing? He'd read about such odd things in archaic books, but never,
ever in person, by
anybody in all of the world he came from.
Owen wasn't sure about the full context, but from what he could gather, Necrozma wasn't behind these creatures. He was unfamiliar with them. He wasn't sure what light was in this context, either. He then looked at Takato, and then Delirious. This wasn't going to work. Necrozma outmatched them. Nevren's preparation wouldn't be enough to take him on; even if he tried to project his heroes here, it would simply be too far away to do any lasting damage. At best, it would just stall for time.
But he knew what he
could do. Possibly. "E-excuse me!" Owen said. "We--we are here for something else. We're looking for creatures called
moderators, and it might have to do with these black--things! Can you help us?" Owen said. "Think about it! We have a ton of knowledge that might help with taking these black things down. What if they thwart your plans? Or worse? Let's both take them out!"
And then we can get out of here! Owen thought the final part to himself.
And now he hoped for a response. In the back of his mind, he was already thinking about his mother, the Elite Hearts--anybody strong enough to project solid illusions of themselves here to help him fight. He never expected to rely on a scientist's word on the power of prayer before, but here he was, putting his faith in the Alakazam.
[
To be clear: The approach is to attempt to talk to Necrozma to figure out what is happening with the strange alien race of blackness. If that fails, he will attempt to flee with his team to gather his bearings, using the
power of Nevren's Prayer to cause a diversion. And if he happens to still have that fire extinguisher, he'll use that like Smokescreen to help out.]