Let's start this off with a great many thanks to Zarrelion for his help on this chapter.

Also, the third chapter for Jantanner's Amidst Chaos has come out, so please give it a look and leave your thoughts and feelings.

As for this chapter, it's something that quite a few of you have asked about frequently in the past and its also a small shoutout to Janus366 and his arc. Also, in a way, you see some of my views on the grander scheme of things.

One last thing. You may notice the date that this chapter takes place on, and it may seem odd to you. You may be asking yourself "Why October 10?" or "Who Cares Cornova, you just threw this date out for some reason."

The answer is no. The undampening took place after episode 553, just a bit before the Giratina movie. Meaning, that anything that happened after that episode, including the movies that happened, would be completely different because of the undampening. Certain people never meet, several problems are never resolved. The 12th pokemon movie would be one such example. As such, I didn't want to just throw in a random date when this chapter would happen, I wanted to calculate when exactly it would occur regardless of what was going on with the universe. The 12th movie takes place after episode 603. So, how much time would have passed between the undampening and this? I took the liberty of going through all 50 episodes, noting any time they mentioned or ate a particular meal. Anytime they spoke about a certain amount of time passing and if there was ever a shadow being cast from a tree or person to calculate what time of day it was.. The time of day of the episode began and ended, as well as calculating how long it would take them to reach a particular destination (there was a lot of backtracking to Hearthome) were also considered. All of these things I looked for and notated to calculate at least a minimum of 54 days having passed between those 50 episodes. Which is why this would place us at October 10th.

At this point you're all probably thinking, "Cornova, you have no life, you are such a loser" or "Why did you waste all that time doing that and not working on a chapter!?"

While those things may be partially true, I think it's the little details that matter and I just felt that you guys should know some of the extra lengths I take to make this story decent.

Anywho, with that out of the way, let us begin with the end.

October 10th

Sinnoh Region - Michina Town

Azelf watched as the maw of a purple portal yawned open over a calm lake. The lake shivered and formed into an aqueous tentacle that was quickly sucked into the abyss. The eldritch heartbeat of the portal rattled the landscape for miles around. The tremors would've made the local pokémon flee for safer lands.

If there were any local pokémon left. One group stayed — and drove out or killed all the others.

Massive golden cubes rose into the sky, scouting the area for the source of the seismic disturbance. One in particular began to head towards Azelf and the portal that decided to disappear behind him.

Hundreds of tiny membranous wings fluttered at the cube's sides, an interlocking lattice of Combee grew more and more defined as it drew closer. Glowing scarlet pinpricks dotted every golden face, each twinkle denoting a pair of angry eyes.

Their new directive was simple: seek, surround and utterly obliterate. Friend or foe, the Combee carried out their orders with extreme prejudice. There was no hesitation in their actions, no questioning their orders and no remorse in the aftermath. They lived and died for their queen, for they were, in essence, extensions of her. Each acted as an eye or arm for her, supplying their queen with their perspectives of the terrain while also attacking by proxy.

Azelf sighed as he watched the Combee cube close the distance between them.

They weren't always so territorial; the undampening had forced them to be ruthless and untrusting in all their actions towards outsiders.

With the sudden lack of poison-types in the region, a power vacuum had been created. One that many attempted to fill. Predators were the first, fighting other contenders until one group among them reigned supreme.

Once established, the hunts began.

For a while the hunters had their fill and were sated but as the days dragged on, those that had been preyed upon migrated, hid or died off leaving no offspring or trace. The hunters quickly grew restless, frantically looking for a new solution to their overhunting. One such alternative came through the Combee — docile, plentiful and filling. If one could stomach a bug-type.

For those that rejected bug-types, another option lay in what the Combee made. Combee carried the components of their flower hunts to their hive where it could be processed into food for their young. The actual processing was done by Vespiquen in the deepest and innermost core of the hive. Pokémon desperate for food forced their way inside, battling the swarm as they attempted to stop the interlopers from devouring their hard-earned honey.

The infiltration of their home, consumption of their food and deaths of her children was met with a swift, effective, and brutal response. Over the course of several weeks, her death squads had systematically slaughtered the pokémon that once roamed the area.

Shade from the Combee cube cast over Azelf before it dissolved into a hundred smaller shadows. Azelf looked around lazily, finding that each Combee's baleful gaze was now locked onto him from every angle.

"You all have free will; you just don't use it," Azelf muttered bitterly, letting his gaze drag back down to the ground.

He then turned to the biggest mass of Combee. "I know you can hear me, Vespiquen. I know you're linked to your hive. It works both ways though. If I can control them, then through them, I can control you," Azelf said, wondering why he was even bothering to explain anything when they were already under his control. He wondered if it was to create a simulacrum of conversation. Or was it to hear and not forget the sound of his own voice? Interacting with others was hard when your very presence robbed them of their free will and made them your puppets.

It was then that the air seemed to grow thicker and his voice suddenly reverberated with cosmic energies. "Have your swarms return. There is nothing wrong now and there will be nothing wrong for the rest of the day. Go to sleep and awake tomorrow. You can continue to act as you see fit," the Avatar of Will boomed. He watched the combee flow back to their hive. "I hate when I have to do that," he grumbled, wondering if it was healthy for him to talk to himself so much.

The constant drone that once pervaded the air had disappeared only to be replaced by the sound of sloshing water. Gales of wind ripped his focus from him, dragging his body across the field and towards the lake. The portal was bigger now; cyclonic waterspouts rose in greater numbers from the lake and into the gateway of another dimension.

Gradually, the force behind the suction weakened and the water and wind eventually went still. A sea of clouds silently crossed the sky at an alarming speed; not dark enough to herald the coming of rain, but thick enough to hide the sun from the world and cast everything in shadow.

Light shone down from the portal as prismatic ribbons of mysterious energies spilled from around the sides. A single figure descended from the brilliance, bathed in blinding light that dimmed as he drew closer to the earth.

"The time has come! And you shall be judged!" Arceus roared. The golden wheel around his abdomen began to glow an incandescent white as a sphere of energy manifested around his face.

"Father!" Azelf yelled, flying through the air and hoping the Alpha Pokémon had heard him before he pronounced his sentence. Crimson eyes locked onto him, the sphere of destruction shrunk and blipped out of existence.

"Azelf?" the Legendary spoke, the fury draining from his voice.

The Sprite of Will smiled and nodded, "It's been a while, Father. I'll admit I didn't recognize this form of yours for a moment."

Arceus was silent, surveying the lands around him for something before turning back to face him. "Azelf, do not misunderstand, it is not that I do not wish to see you. But there are things that must be dealt with before we may continue to talk."

"Things like the Jewel of Life?" Azelf asked, bringing the emerald sphere out from behind him and handing it to his creator.

"How did you…where is Damos?"

"You've been asleep for quite a while, Father. Damos is dead and has been for some time now. His lineage guarded what they believed to be your fragments and awaited the day that you would return for it once more. For generations, the jewel they'd been guarding was a fake," Azelf replied. "The real jewel was stolen by a man who was controlling Damos with a psychic pokémon when last you saw him and ordered the attack on you."

"Pokémon?"

"Ah, yes. In Damos's time, we were known as 'magical creatures'. Now we are known as pokémon."

Arceus nodded as he eyed his creation for a moment, "If the jewel was lost for so long, how did you find it again?"

"I didn't. Celebi did. She gave it to me a few months ago and told me where to be when you would return. She followed the one who took it through time and snatched it from him when its absence would have the least amount of impact on the timestream." Azelf beamed with pride.

"I did not think giving me this news would merit such happiness," Arceus replied as the Jewel of Life separated and became the five plates of his essence.

"You'll have to forgive me, Father. It has been some time since I've had the pleasure of good company and conversation," Azelf replied.

"The dampeners, they have been removed then? I could feel your ability attempt to overtake my will. The universe feels different. Raw and wild. This fragment of my whole is weak; it does not know the comings and goings of the universe as they happen. You will have to explain."

"It is as you said, Father. The dampeners have been removed from all pokémon and humans by Ho-oh." Arceus looked off into the sky as if gazing upon a distant and unseen galaxy.

"The Sky Guardian?" the Alpha and the Omega eventually responded, his focus still seemingly fixed on the cosmos.

"Yes."

"…Why?"

"I could tell you, but it might be easier for me to show you," the Avatar of Will suggested. Arceus nodded, the golden highlights of his body shifting into a deep purple. There was silence between them as several centuries worth of experiences and knowledge was transferred over.

After a few heartbeats Arceus opened his eyes, the rest of his body returning back into its natural color. "They have come a long way."

"That's it? That's all you can say?" There was no anger in Azelf's tone, only surprise.

"Was there something you expected me to say to all of this?"

"I don't know. I…I figured you would've been angrier that the dampeners had been removed. You made them for a reason, right?"

Arceus shook his head. "Angry? No. Disappointed and saddened that it has come to this point. Yes."

"Why did you make us with the dampeners then?"

"I think the effects of their removal should be self-explanatory." Arceus motioned with his neck to the area around them. From a simple glance, the setting was pristine and tranquil but that was not what Arceus had referred to.

"No, not that. Why didn't you make us dampened in the first place?' Azelf asked.

"Mew and I believed that as powerful as all of you were, you would all still be able to live in harmony. Your true powers may have appeared to be too much but at the time it had created very little disturbances. We didn't encounter any difficulties until humanity was created."

"Giratina's war," Azelf solemnly stated, knowing there was nothing else that needed to be said on the subject.

Arceus closed his eyes and nodded. "Yes. It was then that both Mew and I realized our error. For all my power, this form is still flesh and blood. I can grow weary; I can become angry. I can misjudge and make mistakes. This fragment is immune to many types, but it is not immune to error."

"What will you do now?"

"I shall return to my dimension, of course," Arceus calmly replied, to which Azelf's stare hardened at the response.

"You will do nothing?" the Willpower Pokémon fought to keep his voice level and non-confrontational.

"It is not my place to interfere with this universe's troubles."

"But you made this world!" Azelf shouted. The Alpha and Omega's blasé statement had struck a nerve.

Arceus shot a steel-cold glare at the Architect of Will. "No, I did not. You all did. Each of you played a part. I made you and the others, which you now call Legendaries. Together you created this universe. And it shall be all of you who handle its issues.

"Note that in all the wars that humanity has waged against itself, I have never stepped in. No matter how high the cost was or would be; I did not intervene. I told you how to make this universe. If it is destroyed because of your squabbles, then you all must have cared more about that than living in this world." Arceus turned away from the sprite, a blinding white portal opening up before him.

Azelf trembled in place, his eyes downcast while his arms hung rigidly at his sides with clenched fists. "Why did you make us?" he whispered, anger and venom dripping from every word.

Arceus's back was to the sprite as he inched his way back to his dimension.

"Why did you bother to make us if you care nothing about us!?" Azelf screamed

The Alpha Pokémon halted before the gateway to his world, slowly bowing his head and closing his eyes with a sigh. He away backed from the portal, letting it shrink until it winked out of reality.

"I do care. You, of all my creations, should know that I care, for all of you," Arceus spoke softly, keeping his back to the Sprite of Will.

Azelf could hear the pangs of sadness and pain in his tone; the words he spoke were not simply there to placate him, but almost as if Arceus had said them to convince himself.

"I care for all of you so much that it hurts. The ability to make your own decisions — even ones that hurt others and rob them of their right — is as precious to me as it is to you. If I wanted no wars; if I wanted no one to ever be hurt, then I wouldn't have created you, Azelf."

The confession visibly struck a chord in the sprite's core, his amber colored eyes now shimmering.

"I know you Azelf." Arceus's voice took a more paternal tone. "Do not blame yourself for this war or any war they've had in the past. What you gave them was a gift; never forget that. How they use that gift is not tied to you. We must live with the fact that our contributions to this existence can be used for the wrong reasons. But we must also remember that it has also made amazing things."

The weight on the Willmaker's mind had lifted slightly; not enough to remove his guilt, but enough to stop the descending spiral his emotions often brought him to.

"As to why I made all of you…the reason may disappoint those who spent centuries attempting to find and understand why they are here." Arceus let out a sigh.

"What is it?" Azelf asked, caring not of the eagerness that showed in his voice.

"Imagine you have come into being, and there is nothing else but you. To be trapped within your own mind and see nothing else, because nothing else exists. To hear nothing, not even your own voice, because sound has not been created. How would you feel? With only the void as your company? One would feel—"

"—Lonely…" Azelf interjected suddenly, the words slipping from his lips like the hushed breeze of some long-forgotten winter.

"Yes, Azelf. I was lonely. It was an all-consuming agony. So much so that I fought with all my being to change it. I tried to make others like myself, but failed. When I tried to make lesser beings they died when they could not survive in the void like I could. So I made a dimension where fragments of me could survive, and then they in turn made the dimension which would eventually be what you see now."

"Your other forms." Azelf nodded, not so much asking a question as he was acknowledging the fact that other variants of his maker existed.

"Yes, this is but a piece of the greater whole. It is infinitesimally weaker and susceptible to being overcome by emotions and the elements."

"Your other fragments. Will they do the same as you?"

"I cannot speak for them, but I know they will not interfere in this matter. But what of you Azelf, what will you do?" Arceus asked.

The Architect of Will floated silently, his face thoughtful for a moment before he responded. "Can…can I come with you, to your world?"

Despite lacking lips, it was as if the Alpha and the Omega's passive smile curled back into a solemn frown. His eyes spoke more than any words he could've said. Arceus dipped his head slightly and closed his eyes. "I would take you with me Azelf…"

"But you can't," the sprite dejectedly finished.

"My realm is cut off from this universe and is unlike Giratina's. As long as you and your siblings remain in this realm, everyone in it will continue to receive the gifts you gave them. I won't stop you from coming with me, but you need to know the consequences of that action."

Azelf would've offered to leave his body while his spirit joined Arceus in his world but he knew the risks of that action were too great. There was no real place to house his body while his spirit was away.

"I'm sorry Azelf, I'm sorry…" Another white portal opened up for what would be the final time.

"Will I at least see you again?" Azelf asked as he struggled to remain calm.

Arceus faced the sprite now, backing into the portal as he spoke. "As much as I would like to promise you that I would, I cannot."

"I…I understand."

"Take care Azelf. There will come a day when you find someone that you can talk to. Of that much I am certain."

And then, there was a flash of the most brilliant white light. And like that flash of light, Azelf's façade vaporized and the sound of anguished cries filled the peaceful valley.

End of the second legendary arc.

Next legendary arc, the 3rd and final one. Poke Wars: The Obedience.

I'll be finishing up the Sinnoh arc soon and once that's done.

I'll be going back.

Yes, it's been a long time, but I think it's time I come back to the character you all seem to love watching go through all these struggles.

You all know who I mean.

I'm going back

To Kanto