Arc 2: Deadly Drowning Craze

Azelf happens upon Kyogre killing off Groudon and Terrakion.

Azelf stared into the mirror. "...urgh."

By heaven's word, she thought she looked hideous! ...or, well, she looked so miserably after simply waking up. Was this the con of being human? Miserable face first thing in the morning? Had she been in her Pokémon form, she wouldn't look any different at all.

The girl shook her head, hair fluttering in random directions. She looked again- now she felt more awake, but her messy hair was the next problem.

She grabbed hold of a tool she learnt was called a 'comb'. Humans used it to... well, comb their hair, and... make them look neat, supposedly.

Brush. And brush. And brush.

"...a bit better," she supposed. Then she saw a red scrunchy on the counter- she received it from a Kalos stylist back when Mew had dragged her into a game of tag. Or hide-and-seek. Or a mix of the two, however that worked. She thought the ponytail the woman gave her was kind of cute.

So she tied up part of her hair and regained that ponytail.

"...much better," Azelf said with a confident smile.

Then she walked out the room.

"Alright then... wide awake, brushed my teeth, combed my hair, made my ponytail... time for breakfast!"

On the way to the dining room, she passed by some fellow Legendaries and greeted them all.

Articuno had been sluggishly hanging from the top of Regice's Pokémon form. "Hey, Azelf... still sleepy..."

"(Greetings, Azelf. Lady Articuno will be up and full of life soon.)"

Regigigas, also in her Pokémon form, had been conversing with Volcanion.

"Hey, kid. Hope you're doing fine."

"(Good day to you, Azelf. I send my regards to your brethren.)"

Deoxys and Mewtwo were holding a book together, reading it simultaneously.

"Oh, uh, hi."

"Hello, Azelf. Breakfast room is up ahead."

Kyogre was carrying a confused Groudon.

"Hi, Azelf! I'm busy right now, I'll talk later!"

"The heck's going on...?"

Azelf blinked. She turned around and took another good look- Kyogre was carrying a confused Groudon off to who knows where. She rubbed her eyes and stared again- Kyogre was carrying a confused Groudon off to who knows where. She scratched her head. "Huh. Apparently they get along more than I heard they did."

She then shrugged it off and continued on her way. When she reached the dining room, she saw a couple more Legendaries enjoying their meals.

Mesprit was snickering about something whilst gossiping with Cresselia, Registeel was enjoying a silent meal with Necrozma, the Forces of Nature seemed to be caught up in some inside-group speech, Meloette was excitedly explaining something to Zygarde, and Victini was showing off her amazing throw-and-eat skills to Manaphy and Phione.

At her usual seat, she saw Uxie and Magearna enjoying themselves.

"..." Azelf paid it no heed and walked towards the table, seeing if they had any plates of berries. Or other healthy stuff; she was thinking she could start widening her choice of diet.

"Oh, hi Azelf," Uxie greeted.

"Hi, Uxie." The girl found her desired berries and took a few pieces, grabbed an empty plate, and sat to Uxie's right.

The blonde looked at her for a while. "...is something wrong?"

Azelf turned to her. "Huh?"

"You're quiet today."

"...uh, I guess so? Nothing's wrong though... I think." Uxie then went back to conversing with Magearna while Azelf ate her berries in piece. Am I being weird today? she wondered. ...I don't think so.

Mesprit saw her from across the table and waved with a smile. Azelf waved back.

She plopped another piece of berry into her mouth. "Hm. Remarkable."

From the corner of her eye, she spotted Kyogre running past the room again. She was carrying another person, this time not Groudon.

Azelf stared at the doorway, then looked back at her plate. "...wonder what she's up to."

Uxie tapped her shoulder. "I think she was carrying Terrakion," the blonde said.

"You saw her too?" the bluenette asked, to which the blonde nodded. "Huh. ...I think I'll go check on her. You coming?"

The Knowledge Pokémon smiled and shook her head. "Sorry, I promised Magearna to teach her lots of things today."

"Oh." Azelf stared at her, then at Magearna.

The Artificial Pokémon noticed her gaze and shyly waved.

She blinked, then waved back. Then she walked out the room. "...hm." She had this small feeling deep inside her that something didn't sit well with her, but the girl couldn't exactly place a finger on it. Feels rather strange, somehow... Azelf groaned and shook her head. Focus, me, focus!

The girl walked through the hallways once more, and came to a stop near the... uh... huge ass windows/walls that led to the garden. Seriously, what are they called? I'll look into that eventually... probably never.

A swimming pool had been added to the mansion at some point. Wow, Arceus sure works fast.

Pushing the window open, Azelf stepped out and saw a huge ladder connected to the swimming pool. The ladder stretched up high into the sky, a diving board at the very top. She gulped. "Wow, that sure is tall." The girl walked closer to the pool and as she neared it, she spotted something floating silently in the pool. "Huh?"

There was already someone in the pool, with familiar bright red hair. However... she was facing down. Into the water. And unmoving.

Azelf gulped. That was definitely Groudon in there, she definitely recognized that body as Groudon's. Is she... dead? Azelf wondered, but shook her head. There's no way Arceus would let death happen in here.

...she figured she should go and warn Groudon about relaxing in the pool while facing down, obviously because breathing would be an issue.

The girl made her move, but stopped when she heard Kyogre's voice from above. She quickly hid in a conveniently nearby bush and looked up- Kyogre stood atop the diving board, holding a blindfolded humanized Terrakion who seemed to tense her own body like a plank.

"...uh, I don't like where this is going..." Azelf muttered.

Kyogre then said something to Terrakion and smiled happily. She nodded and then, holding Terrakion up high, she threw the Cavern Pokémon straight down into the pool.

...what. Azelf stared in horror, jaws dropped, as an eruption of water occurred in front of her. T-T-T-Terrakioonnnnnn!

After a few seconds of water splashing everywhere, Terrakion's body surfaced. The blindfold fell off, and the humanized Pokémon had those comical swirly eyes in place of her usual confident looks. A thought occurred to her- she must have destroyed Groudon the same way!

"Dear Arceus, she's gone crazy..." Azelf whispered, then flinched when she noticed Kyogre climbing down the ladder. She panicked and quickly teleported herself back to the hallway. She peered out at the crime scene again- Kyogre had just gotten down and was skipping over to where she had just been hiding. "Crap, she saw me from up there... that was close."

As Kyogre seemed to look around out of curiosity, Azelf decided she wasn't going to stick around any longer.

"Stay safe, stay safe, stay safe, me!" Azelf chanted and ran away as fast as possible.

Rayquaza stretched her arms as she walked out her room. "Hey, uh... Lunala, right?"

"...um, yeah. I'm Lunala."

"Right. Have you seen Groudon? ...or Kyogre?"

The Psychic/Ghost-type scratched her head. "...no, sorry."

"Oh. Okay then. I'll just go find something to eat, then." Rayquaza walked away, then paused. "...nice wings."

Lunala stared. "...thanks?" Unsure of how to feel, Lunala turned around only to have a blue-haired girl crash into her. "O-oof..."

Clutching her butt in pain, the bat got up and looked down at the girl in front of her. If she recalled correctly, this was... uh... who was it?

"...are you okay... um... Zelda?"

"It's Azelf!" the girl exclaimed. She grabbed her hand and got up, dusting herself off. "...a-and, uh, sorry. For running into you."

"...it's okay."

Azelf stared at the Alolan's face. "...pretty," she muttered.

"...thanks."

"O-oh, uh, sorry. I was just... eh." Azelf scratched her head.

Lunala nodded.

Then Azelf shook her head. "No, wait, we have a big problem right now!" she exclaimed. "Um, do you know Kyogre? Probably not, but she's gone crazy and is going to drown everyone!"

Her words didn't seem to register within the Alolan's head for a while, but then Lunala grimaced. "..."

Azelf blinked. I hope she doesn't think everyone's crazy like Kyogre. "W-well, uh, at least it looked like that..."

"...Rayquaza. Was looking for Kyogre." Lunala scratched her cheek. "...and Groudon."

"I see." A beat of silence. "...wait, no, that comes later!" Suddenly, Azelf grabbed the Alolan's hands. "Come on, um, Lunala!" she exclaimed.

"W-where...?"

"To save everyone before they die!" Azelf said.

What's with this place... Lunala wondered.

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