Atop Spear Pillar they pieced together the sixteen-Plate puzzle.
"Nnnno, that part goes here, and this goes there, and that goes where? Oh, I see it now," Manny mumbled to himself as he put the final Plate in place. The trio stood back, searching the Sinnoh vista and sky above with their eyes.
Nothing moved.
Manny sighed. "Well, that was underwhelming."
"Was there anything else in the dream?" Mint asked.
"Nuh-uh."
Hannah's roaming eyes spotted something long, thin and blue jutting out of a crack between the flagstones. She dug out a small bamboo flute, though unlike her natural brown hotchiku, this one had been dyed sky blue.
"Guys, I found this, it's just like my flute: same shape, weight and finger holes. This is statistically impossible; no two flutes are alike, because no two bamboo shoots grow the same way, nor can they be carved in the exact manner!"
"Another dream flute?" Manny wondered. "Wasn't in my dream."
Hannah began playing her song on it, and was astonished to hear and feel the identical quality of musical notes. The same sadness, joy, despair and hope flowed from this flute in a haunting rendition. When the song ended, Manny's Pokédex beeped: it was a call from Professor Oak. He put it on speakerphone.
"Manny, my laboratory in Pallet Town was robbed! I just got the call from Delia when she visited there to feed Ash's Pokémon!"
"That's terrible, Professor, but shouldn't you report that to the local authorities?"
"Manny, nothing was taken except the Azure Flute! It is used to summon the legendary Pokémon Arceus at Spear Pillar; the place where he left this world, where you are standing now! DO NOT PLAY THAT FLUTE!"
"It's… too late for that, Professor," Hannah spoke up. As she said that, the elemental Plate collage of Arceus rose into the air, vanishing into the clouds. In their place, a grand stone staircase appeared, reaching high into the sky, almost out of sight.
"What's happening now?" Oak demanded, so Manny put him on videophone and pointed the Pokédex at the magical stairs. "Oh, no! It has already begun! Children, run away as fast as you can! You must not meet Arceus! You do not know what he is capable of!"
"If the children will not come to me, then I will go to them."
Manny dropped his Pokédex as the Being descended from the sky. It possessed a white, equine body with grey underbelly, whose four pointed feet were tipped with golden hooves. Its long mane, ears and tail swept upward away from its body. Seated on its long neck was an utterly alien, helmet-shaped head whose forehead ended in a golden peak. Its two glittering emerald eyes held deep ruby pupils that peered down at the small children. It had no nose, but a wide mouth that swept across the breadth of its grey, flattened face. Most unusual of all was the golden crosswheel that jutted from its abdomen, barred on either side by golden crescents. Four viridian gems decorated the four points of the crosswheel where the crescents intersected. The sixteen elemental Plates orbited the Being's neck in a wheel formation. The power and majesty exuding from this Pokémon was unlike anything the children had experienced.
"I am Arceus, the Original One, who gave birth to this universe. The stars fell from my eyes, and the Earth was carved beneath my hooves. From this vantage point, I created Sinnoh, the Lake Guardians and the Creation Trio."
Its mouth never moved, but its ageless booming voice was audible, even to Professor Oak who stared at Arceus through the Pokédex lying forgotten on the ground.
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Arceus," said Mint.
"Why are you here?" Manny asked.
"The Creeds and Instrument summoned me."
"You mean the Plates and Azure Flute?"
"That is what humans call them. The Creeds are the elements I built Creation upon. The Instrument was fashioned when this world was young. One may use it to play the first song I taught humans and Pokémon."
"Wait, did you say it was your song? I was the one who composed it!" Hannah protested. Arceus smiled.
"Human girl, when Darkrai trapped you within a nightmare, I was with you. I was the old man who taught you how to play. The song you composed has been played for millions of years by all creatures I touch with my presence."
"You tricked me?"
"I showed you the truth: you are not alone, I am here. You should tell your friends the truth of your first dream."
Fear entered Hannah's eyes.
"No."
"It is unseemly to lie when your life is transient."
"Is he talking about the dream you had in the Old Chateau?" Manny enquired.
Hannah looked like a frightened Teddiursa, but she told them anyway.
"That awful nightmare, where no humans and Pokémon existed, was my fault. I owned a powerful Pokémon, the mightiest in the world, but it had no shape or form. It just floated wherever I went, and it did… terrible things. Instead of fighting Pokémon, it killed them, then it killed the Trainer. I enjoyed the killing. The people of this world are such idiots, incapable of the faintest fragment of critical thought! There is no worth in a life unable to examine itself!"
Oak, Mint and Manny were speechless, aghast.
"After a few years of terrorising every Region I could find, my ghostly Pokémon left me. Soon there were no people or Pokémon anywhere on the planet... but the dead are not silent. Their ghosts haunted me wherever I went, accusing me of my crimes. Then my ghostly Pokémon returned to me, to end my own life."
"Mint, your dream was an extension of hers. While your ultimate fear is being alone, and Manny's fear is being useless, her fear is being guilty."
"In the nightmare, I thought by killing them, that no-one would judge me, but I was wrong. Judgement surpasses all things, even death!"
For the first time, the boys saw madness in her eyes, a madness born of isolation, loneliness and fear.
"It's your parents's fault, isn't it?" Manny guessed, but Hannah shook her head violently.
"I don't blame them. I would have done the same thing, if I had a child. I want to live my own life, not enslaved to some kid with their own agenda."
"There are so many things wrong with that statement, I can't even begin to count," Mint said, shaking his head. "Hannah, why didn't you talk to us? Why did you lie to us about your first dream?"
"Because you two are morons! This world isn't fair, you know! You have seen the corruption yourself; when confronted with a world-ending event, the International Police sent ONE police officer to investigate the entire incident. That one officer was incompetent -"
"Hey, don't talk about Looker that way!" Mint interjected.
"- so incompetent," Hannah continued, "he hired a bunch of kids to do his work for him. What kind of legal system relies on children to save the world? Adults are supposed to protect kids! Worse yet, this corruption is inherent in every country. People suffer because they do not have the will to band together and improve their situation; they leave their fate to their governments and leaders."
Hannah turned her grim face to Arceus.
"Isn't there anything you can do? Aren't you God?"
"I am not God. However, I can rebuild this universe to your liking, a place where nobody suffers."
"Stop listening to him, children!" Oak yelled from the Pokédex. Arceus bent his head over the device so that Oak could see the fires burning in his glittering eyes.
"As I said, mortal man, you have no place in the new world."
Arceus brought one great golden hoof down upon the device, shattering it.
"Uh, I could have just ended the phonecall, y'know," Manny said lamely. Arceus ignored the boy.
"Fight me, Hannah. Show me your desire to change this world."
"Now I'll have to get a whole new National Dex. Gosh!"
"Shut up, Manny. Arceus, I accept your challenge."
Mint's eyes became saucers.
"WHAT? You want to remake creation? It'll just be your nightmare all over again, Hanny!"
"In the new world, there will be no judgement, for we will be the Law. That is the ineffable right of creators."
Hannah pulled Orric from her belt and summoned him.
"Earthquake!"
He broke the ancient flagstones below Arceus, causing the god-monster to stumble. Arceus lifted his head, charging a great golden energy ball he shot into the sky. It exploded somewhere high above like a firework, its bright beautiful plumes falling earthward.
"This is my JUDGEMENT!"
Destruction rained from the heavens! Hannah crossed her arms over her face to deflect the splintering rocks and blastwave. Orric was caught in the energy torrent that left great gaping craters around Spear Pillar, one of which he crawled out of, breathing hard but able to fight.
"Stone Edge!"
Though battered within an inch of his life, he tackled Arceus, forcing his opponent back. The golden god reared on his hindlegs, smashing both forehooves into Orric's face. The turtle could not recover from that one.
"Orric, return! Go, Minnie!"
The blue fish did not even reach Hannah's knee. Arceus stared down at her from his imperious height, making Minnie feel quite miniature indeed. Her power, however, was anything but.
"Ice Beam!"
A silver stream of wintry wrath issued forth from the tiny creature, knocking her foe's head back. Arceus responded with Earth Power, launching Minnie into the clouds.
"Minnie, return!" Hannah commanded, glad that the Pokéball return function had such extreme range. "Come out, Kipp! Use Thunder Fang!"
The lionhearted Luxray latched onto his enemy's throat with the full force of his bite, conducting a massive electric current through his fangs. Arceus reeled, crying out in pain for the first time since the battle began. Digging his hooves into the rock, he Seismic Tossed his head, slamming Kipp into the ground with the momentum of his body.
"Discharge!"
Using all his reserves, Kipp unleashed a thunderous blast that fixed Arceus rigid, locking up the formidable musculature of the golden beast. Seeing her opponent paralysed, Hannah took her best shot!
"Ultra Ball, go!"
For the first time in his existence, Arceus disappeared within the confines of a Pokéball. Spear Pillar tremored with the energy transfer. The ball shook once, but blew apart, freeing the god-monster from captivity! In vengeance, he trampled Kipp beneath his shining hooves.
"Kipp, return! Get ready, Wise Shitashi: use Hypnosis!"
Owl eyes swirled with psionic force. Arceus's head fell forward, his own eyes dark.
"Now's your chance: use Dream Eater!"
A mass of swirling lights appeared above Arceus's head. Shitashi opened his beak, sucking the dancing lights into his gullet. Then, his eyes bulging, he choked and spat them back out. Arceus emerged from his slumber, his dream expanding into the spiral pattern of a galaxy framing his glorious head. Hannah stared openmouthed, shaking her own head.
"Too big... his dream is too big!"
"You cannot eat my dream. Neither human nor Pokémon may devour the cosmos itself!"
Arceus charged angry red energy, firing a Hyper Beam that knocked Shitashi out of commission and almost off this mortal coil.
"Wise Shitashi, return! Zeke, go after him with everything you got: Flare Blitz!"
Scorching stallion met golden god head-on with his strongest offense, bringing both himself and his enemy to his knees on impact. Arceus was still recovering, so Hannah had Zeke perform yet another Flare Blitz. Both combatants had suffered grievous injury at this point, but Arceus was the stronger, and kicked Zeke out of the ring with impunity.
"Well done, Zeke; return! Let us end this, let us end ALL of this, Glitch!"
Her most faithful ally materialised, his swirling eyes an eager shade of red.
"STATEMENT: AWAITING COMMAND."
"HYPER BEAM!"
An energy barrage rivaling Arceus's sent the white deity skidding across the rocky platform. He struggled to rise, to destroy the fatal Porygon-Z, but his hooves would not obey. Hannah tossed about seventeen Ultra Balls before the god stopped struggling against his fate. When the eighteenth ball stopped wobbling and came to rest, its capture mechanism emitting the dull bass note and small soft glow, Hannah strode across the battlefield with Glitch to claim her spoil of war. She held the Pokéball aloft, as indeed she now stood above all life on her pathetic planet called Earth.
"This!" she shouted to Manny and Mint, who were in turn mesmerised and terrorised at what they had witnessed, "THIS is reality! This is victory; MY triumph over the old ways!"
She summoned her Arceus. He knelt before the girl, allowing her to mount him like a common Ponyta.
"This is our time," Hannah continued her gloating. "Now, all things shall be new. But first, I have someone to take care of."
Arceus leaped skyward to the east. The boys ran to the edge of Spear Pillar, seeing that Hannah and her newest pet were headed for Veilstone City.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Manny muttered. Mint nodded. They called upon their flying Pokémon for air transport.