Chapter 2: Judgment

Arceus paced around the living room of the Hall of Origin. The living room was decorated in a tasteful gold and white color scheme, not unlike the colors of Arceus herself.

"Arc, is there something wrong?" Giratina asked. He was reclining on the couch; the one thing in the room that was not gold and white. Instead the couch had black arm rests, gold cushions and a red back.

Arceus stopped her pacing. "I'll call a meeting." She then closed her eyes and sent a wave of psychic energy throughout the entire dwelling.

***

Darkrai sat up in his bed as he received the psychic message. He had been sleeping just before the message. He tossed the blankets aside and hovered down to the ground. He looked around the darkened room. All that he saw was the barely visible black dresser with a statuette on it. The statuette was a perfect image of Darkrai himself, right down to the glowing blue eye.

"Someone's watching me," he muttered. He then peeked under the bed and saw two magenta eyes staring back at him.

"Cresselia, I know you're there. Get out from under my bed," Darkrai said, pointing to the door.

Cresselia, floated out from under the bed. "Fine," she replied. "I just wanted to ask when we can go out together."

"For the last time, I will not go out with you! Get out of my room!" Darkrai shouted.

"Fine. In any case, I have to because Arceus is holding a meeting," Cresselia said. She then floated out of Darkrai's room, leaving him alone with the statuette.

Darkrai sighed. "At least she didn't try to steal my statuette like she did last time," he muttered. He then petted the statuette as he floated out of the room.

***

Dialga was lying on Lugia's bed and staring at the wall. Lugia's bedroom was decorated in a unique combination of white, silver and dark blue. A blue and white dresser rested against one wall and several paintings were plastered on the walls. Lugia himself was painting something in the corner opposite the bed.

"WHY DID PALKIA HAVE TO DO HIS SCULPTING INSIDE OUR ROOM?" Dialga asked with a sigh.

"Can you talk normally?" Lugia responded without taking his eyes off his canvas.

"BUT THIS IS THE WAY I ALWAYS TALK." Dialga responded.

"Well, your normal voice is too loud!"

"TOO BAD. I CAN'T CONTROL IT."

Lugia sighed. "Then how about saying nothing at all?"

"FINE," Dialga responded. He then got up from the bed and peered over Lugia's shoulder.

"WHAT ARE YOU PAINTING?"

"A recollection of the time when 'The Chosen One' and I had to prevent Zapdos, Moltres and Articuno from destroying the world. When will those three learn that even gods cannot do as they please? You should have seen how mad Arceus was at them."

Several minutes later, Lugia had finished and framed his painting. He then looked at Dialga. "Do you always sound like you're talking in all capital letters?" Lugia asked.

"YES," Dialga replied.

Lugia facepalmed. "In any case, I can hear Arceus calling us for a meeting," he said, flying out of his room.

Dialga then followed him out to the hall. The hallway was unremarkable save for the wallpaper.

Dialga glanced at the wallpaper in disgust. "WHY CAN'T WE HAVE A PLAIN SILVER AND BLUE WALLPAPER? THE FLOWERS ON IT ARE NASTY," Dialga commented.

"Blame Shaymin for it. She's the one who picked it out. And we're lucky Arceus drew the line at the wallpaper or else we'd have gracidea flowers everywhere," Lugia replied

"Don't like the wallpaper, eh?" a voice said.

Dialga and Lugia looked around the hallway. All that was visible were the silver light fixtures on the wall and a large black spot on the dark blue carpet

"WHO ARE YOU?" Dialga demanded.

"Dialga, Lugia, you should know who I am," the voice responded. Darkrai then rose out of the floor in front of the two.

"SHOULDN'T YOU BE AT THE MEETING?"

"I was on my way there," Darkrai responded, "But since I overheard you talking about the wallpaper, I thought I'd listen in. Having the ability to sink in and out of the ground at will allows you hear a lot of things. Did you know that Mew still…"

"In any case, let's continue," Lugia said, cutting Darkrai off.

The group then continued down the hall into the living room.

***

Lugia, Dialga and Darkrai arrived at the living room just in time to see all the Legendaries gathered in front of Arceus's throne. Except Giratina, he had not moved from his couch.

Arceus hovered just above her throne. Her empty bowl of tortilla chips was still by her feet. In front of her sat all the Legendaries with the exception of Mewtwo, Ho-Oh and Deoxys. All of them chattered amongst themselves while they waited for Arceus to speak. After a few moments, Arceus raised one of her forelegs to signal for silence.

"As you are all aware, the recreation room and some of the surrounding area has been completely destroyed, thanks to Groudon and Kyogre fighting over some inane reason," Arceus said.

"I propose we exile them from the Hall of Origins for a millennium. This sort of behavior will not be tolerated," Entei said.

"I second that motion," Suicune added.

"I third that motion," Raiku said.

Arceus nodded. "Okay," she said, "so we've exiled them for a millennium. We don't have to worry about Kyogre and Groudon wrecking anything else. Now the problem remains, we have to fix up the stuff they've damaged. Now is anyone here willing to pay out of their own pocket or work to earn money for the repairs?"

Only Lugia and Articuno agreed.

Arceus looked at the two. "Exactly." she said, "So, any other suggestions?" She then looked over the crowd and spotted Latios raising his arm.

"Yes, Latios?"

"How about we make Groudon and Kyogre work off the damages they caused?" Latios said.

"I second that," Latias said.

"I third that," Darkrai said.

Arceus thought a moment. "Perfect. Now all we have to do is to wait for Mewtwo, Ho-Oh and Deoxys to finish calculating the damages." She then spotted Jirachi flying above everyone's heads. "Jirachi, please sit down," she ordered.

Jirachi floated down to the ground and landed next to Shaymin, who was apparently asleep.

"Hey Shaymin, wake up," he said, prodding the sleeping Legend. It was after repeated prodding that "Shaymin" fell over and broke.

Everyone turned their heads at the sound of breaking porcelain and spotted Jirachi hovering next to a broken flowerpot, a mound of dirt and some scattered gracidea flowers

"I MADE THAT AS A GIFT FOR SHAYMIN!" Palkia exclaimed. "DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCEPT OF APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR?! FIRST, YOU STEAL ARCEUS'S CHIPS THEN YOU BREAK MY FLOWERPOT!"

Jirachi sniffled slightly and floated away from Palkia. At the same time, everyone turned and stared at Palkia.

"DISREGARD ME," Palkia said, blushing slightly.

***

Inside the water drenched and battered rec room, Ho-Oh, Mewtwo and Deoxys were examining every nook and cranny.

"East wall shows significant water and impact damage. It will need to be replaced. Furthermore, the door has been completely destroyed. It will also need to be replaced." Mewtwo said, examining the rear wall. He then levitated up to the ceiling and examining the hanging lamp or what was left of it. "The lamp has been obliterated. Palkia will need to be commissioned to make a new one. It should be the same type as the previous one, a red and orange sphere hanging from a gold chain. It should not exceed ten inches in circumference," he said.

"Got it," Ho-Oh replied. She was busy writing everything down on a clipboard.

Deoxys was examining large hole in the north wall. Latias and Latios's room could be seen through the hole. Deoxys then peered through the hole and chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Mewtwo asked, floating down to ground level.

"Look for yourself," Deoxys replied.

Mewtwo stuck his head through the hole in the wall and looked around. The Lati siblings' room was decorated in a red, blue and white color scheme. There were two dressers, two beds and two nightstands. Latios's furniture was blue and white, while his sister's furniture was red and white. His eyes fell on life sized plushies of Latias and Latios, each of them sitting on their respective dressers. He suppressed a chuckle. "Aren't they a little too old to have plushies?" he asked.

Deoxys shrugged. "What they do isn't our business. They could be screwing each other for all I care."

"That was not an image I needed in my head," Mewtwo said with a sigh.

"You two! Stop snooping and get back to work!" Ho-Oh snapped.

Deoxys and Mewtwo did as they were told.

Mewtwo levitated up half a pool table. "Anybody found the other half?" he asked.

Deoxys pointed to a pile of wood and green fabric. "There's the other half," she said.

"Add that to the shit we need to replace. One regulation size pool table, green felt top, integrated ball storage and integrated chalk holders," Mewtwo said with a sigh.

Ho-Oh wrote that down.

Deoxys looked around the room. "I think the pool table's the last thing in here," she said.

"Good, we'd better bring this to Arceus," Ho-Oh said, flying out of the room.

Mewtwo and Deoxys followed her. As soon as they left the room, the large bay window, which was teetering precariously, fell down and shattered with a mighty crash.

***

Ho-Oh, followed by Deoxys and Mewtwo entered the living room.

"Ah, so you're done calculating the damages?" Arceus asked.

"We are indeed." Ho-Oh replied, "When labor is factored in, the damages come out to roughly 957,500 Poké. And that's not including the stuff that we can't buy."

"Like what?" Giratina asked. He had finally moved off his couch and was now standing next to Dialga.

"Palkia's custom made lamp and…"

"GROUDON, KYOGRE! EXPLAIN WHY YOU DESTROYED THE LAMP THAT I MADE AS A GIFT?" Palkia demanded.

Groudon averted her gaze. "Well, a Solarbeam isn't selective. It destroys what it hits. Think of it as my gaze, I can't not look at Ky…"

"Enough of that." Arceus said sternly, "And Palkia, don't interrupt."

Palkia grumbled but remained silent.

Ho-Oh cleared her throat. "In any case, Palkia's custom made lamp and sculptures along with Lugia's custom wallpaper and carpeting are the irreplaceable items destroyed."

Arceus nodded. "I have decided the penalty for Groudon and Kyogre. You will have to work off the damages in addition to 250,000 extra Poké. You will be working together as a rescue team under Wigglytuff's Guild." She then looked at Rayquaza. "One other thing, don't think you can help them get over their punishment faster by working in the guild alongside them," she added.

"Can we work with the guild if we need some spending money?" Mew asked. He was flitting above everyone's heads.

"Yes. But your earnings will not be counted towards their penalty. And Mew, please spend wisely, Celibi's a little upset that you kept mooching off her for money."

"Yes, Arceus," Mew responded with a giggle.

"This meeting is over. I have to speak to Guildmaster Wigglytuff regarding the punishment," Arceus said. She then turned to Regigigas. "Regigigas, please ensure that the Hall of Origins is still standing when I return."

"I WILL DO AS YOU COMMAND," Regigigas said.

The Legendaries dispersed to do their own things as Arceus summoned a swirling blue portal. She then stepped into the portal and vanished.