Time had ended, and as such there was no way to measure its passage - it could have been a second or an eon - then Hannah frowned.

"Arceus, you are not yourself."

"I am what I am."

"Don't give me that existential crap. There is a flaw in your logic: you ended life on my

whim. I would not create life, watch over it for eons, then do away with it on the whim of a creature. Did you not say that no creature can persuade you?"

Arceus fixed her with his ruby eyes. They emitted the only light that remained.

"You are no mere creature."

Hannah stood up on his back, pointing an accusatory finger at what would have been his nose. "Lies and deceit! I am as much a part of the created order as you are a part of the uncreated order. Like the laws of physics, those of the uncreated order are incapable of lying. It would be like the law of gravity suddenly deciding it wouldn't hold the Earth together anymore. Therefore, there must be something from the created order that is INSIDE you, corrupting the purity of your uncreation!"

Arceus had to look away from her. "You... you speak the truth. I have been influenced by Cyrus. I allowed him to integrate with me, for our thoughts are harmonious. We desire the same thing: completion and wholeness of spirit. The created order did not bring completion and wholeness of spirit to either of us, therefore, on your whim, I destroyed it."

Hannah offered a grim smile. "Tell me, Arceus, how do you plan to achieve wholeness and completeness of spirit without a mirror to search out your faults?"

Arceus ducked his head from her searching gaze. "How is the created order a mirror?"

"An artist imprints his or her faults into each work of art."

"An artist also imprints the best of themselves into their artwork, yet I saw no beauty in creation."

"Your 'best' is seen in the natural laws that govern the universe. Everything keeps spinning thanks to your skill. However, your faults are evident in the creatures

of the universe. Their spirit is incomplete because your spirit is incomplete."

Arceus was almost groveling at this point. "I have known this for many eons. It tortures me so."

Hannah stroked the back of his neck, soothing him. "Creatures, however, are capable of evolution. You are not. Someday, after countless evolutions, your creatures will find the answer to their incomplete spirit. They will be whole. They will be complete. When they find the answer, so will you."

Arceus blinked. "They may never find the answer."

Hannah patted his head. He had such a lovely head. "Then I advise you to keep hoping."

Arceus shuddered at those words. He groaned, doubled up as though in labour pains, and emitted a tiny spark of light from his mouth. Cyrus was expelled from Arceus. He was given a human body once more, clothing and all.

Hannah crossed her arms, her victory complete. The man and girl locked stares like Tauros locking horns.

"Hope," Cyrus sneered, "when unfulfilled, leads to despair. I have seen MANY people trapped by hope. They lead miserable lives, unable to find the peace they would have otherwise found by discarding their hope!"

"Cyrus," Arceus said, "you are not going to fix your incomplete and broken spirit by removing all spirit from the world, or indeed the universe. You fix a problem by working on it, not by ignoring it."

Arceus lifted his head to regard the null. It was a null, for not even the Void existed any longer. "Cyrus, how was the universe made?"

The man cocked his head to one side. "The one that we just destroyed? The most plausible scientific theory is the Big Bang."

"You are correct. There was a Big Bang: it was my birth cry when I emerged from the Cosmic Egg. The eggshell became all matter in the universe. There I floated, without parents or siblings, without any kind to call my own. Yet, I had form. Whose image was I crafted in? I do not know the answer. Perhaps there is some Supreme Being who laid me and many other eggs that also became universes. Perhaps one day I shall meet my brothers and sisters, each of whom embodies an

entire universe. Maybe we will meet our Parents. Who is to say? What matters is that, after listening to and remembering every sound in the universe, I decided to create kind after my own kind."

"You listened to every sound in the universe?" Hannah echoed in disbelief. It was like a human claiming to have listened to and remembered every sound made upon Earth since his birth.

"I heard and remembered every vibration made by every atom as they all flew through the void. I even heard the tiny musical notes of protons, neutrons and the quarks within them. I heard the cantata of light and the sonata of darkness. My natural response to all of this sound was to compose my own music."

"You're a singer?" she asks.

"I am. My first song was the first created being: Giratina!"

Arceus bellowed into the null. It was the sound of darkness, death, entropy and ennui. The Void; the negative world, was reborn! From it, Giratina was recreated whole, spreading her vast ebon wings with crimson claws.

"I live," she marveled, undulating in the inky space.

Arceus bowed to her. "Giratina, sing with me, for the second time, the song of your siblings."

Together, Arceus and Giratina roared into the Void. Together, the beings of Creation and Void sang the song of Motion and Fluidity. It was the song of change and wholeness; the song of Time AND Space, for they are inseperable. Dialga and Palkia sprang forth from sound alone!

"Time is flowing again," Dialga nodded.

"Space exists, yet it is without form," Palkia noted, looked around at the sweeping vista of nothingness.

"My children, all things are in place for the resurrection of creation itself. Sing with me!"

Creation, Void, Time and Space sang together in a thunderous roar that echoed and rechoed across the infinite distance. On their first note, their voices ignited stars; sharp pinpricks of light against the black velvet of space. On their second note, the stars swirled together into countless galaxies more numerous than the seeds of flowers that once bloomed in every forest and meadow.

Hanny and Cyrus were surrounded by the stars of one galaxy in particular. The galaxy spiraled on its axis until Arceus singled out a star.

"We at last have a template for life. Let us call forth the final element: spirit. In the

beginning, there was my force of will."

Each god sang a different note, harmonising until their willpower created Azelf.

"As my willpower became stronger, I began to feel emotions. Azelf, join us!"

The five of them each sang a note until Mesprit was born from their chorus.

"With emotions joined to my will, I felt curiosity. I began to know the universe as I knew myself. Mesprit, let us know your voice!"

The six unique notes produced knowledge, manifested as Uxie.

Arceus was silent for a time. "How strange. I expected to fall into eternal slumber, just as I did before."

"The souls," Uxie explained.

Arceus's eyes flashed like lightning bolts. "Something HAS changed: innumerable souls dwell within me! Before, I was empty, but now, I am filled with created lives that yearn for their home. Their spirit of longing will not allow me to sleep! We must call forth planet Earth, as it once was!"

"Are you sure you won't miss anything?" Hannah asked, a smirk on her face. "My ranch in Solaceon has sentimental value."

"Not one blade of grass will be out of place," he promised her.

Then Hannah felt the weight of her crime. She knew that chaos would follow memory. "You must restore order. Will we forget everything?" she asked, holding tears in her eyes. "Will we have learned nothing?"

Arceus laughed. His laughter was the music of the spheres. "You, your friends, all of humanity and all Pokémon will remember everything that happened; the destruction, the creation, all of it. I want my labour to be remembered! Perhaps, after the furore dies down, your two species will learn something from it!"

"Won't the world go mad?" Cyrus exclaimed.

"What is the point of a tragedy that nobody remembers? What is the worth of beauty if there is no-one to behold it? We MUST remember. We MUST explore to experience beautiful things. All things good AND bad exist for a reason, because the good AND the bad are both inside us. Your two species will never evolve unless you come to terms with that."

"Won't everyone hate me and Cyrus?" Hannah wondered, holding her left arm with her right hand. Cyrus raised both eyebrows at the prospect.

"You two are not so weak that a planetful of hateful humans and Pokémon will bother you."

"Truly," Cyrus agreed. "It is that incomplete spirit I sought to remove altogether."

Hannah shrugged. "I could care less what people think. I'll have Glitch blast them all," she nodded, removing Glitch's Pokeball from her belt, summoning the Pokemon in question. He was rather indignant:

"STATEMENT: I FIND THIS WHOLE 'CREATION' BUSINESS TO BE UNNECESSARY. THERE WAS PERFECT ANNIHILATION JUST NOW. MY PROGRAMMING HAD NEVER BEEN MORE FULFILLED."

"My children," Arceus addressed the legendary Pokémon, "let us sing the Earth song."

The seven voices, raised as one, brought the planet into being. With the planet, the weather Pokémon trio sprang to life: Rayquaza soared through the skies, Kyogre swam the waters and Groudon tunneled through earth and flame. The seven voices, with a subtle shift in tone, brought forests into being. With Shaymin leading them, the lesser gods of water, air, ground, fire and grass emerged from these forests, scattering to every corner of the planet once more.

Finally, the seven greater deities sang for the Moon's rebirth. From the dark side of the moon, Darkrai descended to the Earth to bring nightmares once more, while from the bright side that reflects the Sun, Cresselia descended to planet to allay those nightmares with wondrous dreams.

Arceus spoke once more. "Now that the gods of the Sun and Moon have joined with the gods of the Earth, we can compose the Great Music."

The great host of legendary Pokémon, whether high in the clouds, upon the ground or below the oceans, raised their voices. Everywhere on the planet, Pokémon and humans alike appeared. The dwelling places of either species appeared with them, for Arceus remembered everything, down to the last mote of dust floating through a sunbeam.

The resurrected humans and Pokemon stood in amazement, for they did, indeed, remember everything that just transpired. In the ecstacy of new life, both species embraced each other, even strangers.

888

Standing with Johanna and her husband upon Sunyshore's northern beach once more, Manny and Mint took in the ocean vista, felt the wind cold against their faces and the salty tang fill their noses and tongues. They sobbed with relief and joy as they embraced the adults.

Standing upon the newly recreated moon, Arceus extended a hoof towards the boys, extending their sight to the planetary surface as he addressed Cyrus and Hannah: "See those boys, whose spirits had been shattered a moment ago, but are now complete and whole once more, because they love their world, and their world loves them."

"Do you expect me to love others?" Cyrus laughed, his teeth showing like a Seviper's bare fangs.

Arceus seemed to smile. The curves of his face brought to mind the curves of the galactic spiral. "No, Cyrus, I expect you to live."

Hannah felt herself descending... or was it ascending? A moment later she stood upon the beach with the four others and their Pokémon. She, too, breathed in the ocean and found it agreeable to her senses. She looked at the humans and Pokémon present, who were all staring at her with emotions ranging from disgust to joy. She blushed when Tori tackled her, rejoicing at her return.

"Well, I'm back. Uh, I suppose I better do something about those Pokémon trapped on the broken mountain, huh?"

She lifted her head, closing her eyes. Moments later, Pokémon of all shapes and sizes flew overhead, trailing from both halves of the mountain at sea.

"How did you do that?" wondered Mint.

"I asked Arceus. I don't need my voice to speak with him."

"Hang on," Manny's father held up a hand. His face was troubled. "Ask Arceus if I killed any living creature in the ocean or mountain."

Hannah communed for a moment, then shook her head. "Your attack carried no killing intent. The invisible blade of Chaos passed through many living things, but only unliving water, soil and rock were cut."

The man breathed a sigh of relief. "I suppose Farfetch'd didn't harm any flying Pokémon either, huh?"

"No, she struck Arceus with the intent to kill. She was just lucky no flying Pokémon were in the sky above."

"Farrrrr," the small brown bird crooned, hiding her face in her wings. She looked ill.

"Where's Cyrus?" Manny asked her.

Hannah tilted her head to one side, listening to a voice only she could hear.

"He is with the only person he ever listened to."

888

In the Battle Frontier, an old man opened his door. His aged eyes blinked several times, fighting against the perpetual dust storm outside. He squinted. "Cyrus?"

The impassive young man bowed at the hip, seeming not to feel the storm raging all around him. "Grandfather."

A smile creased the old man's wrinkled face. "Cyrus, come in, my boy! It has been many years since I have seen your face."

Cyrus paused, a storm of emotions raging over his features. He did not know whether to be happy, angry or sad, so he decided to be neutral. "Grandfather, do you still have the books of time and space?"

"They're still on the floor, where you left them."

Cyrus rubbed a hand over his eyes, feeling wearier than the old man. "I have been to the end of the universe, but I still have not found what I am looking for."

His grandfather smiled, resting a leathery hand on his shoulder. Cyrus did not shirk his touch. The old man said, "I witnessed the fruits of your labour. I know your failure. It is time you found a new hope by beginning a new search: the journey within. Since the last time you saw me, I have been acquiring a new shelf of literature pertaining to human and Pokémon psychology. It has a number of interesting topics, including 'Man's search for meaning' written by a wise gentleman named Viktor E. Frankl."

He gave his grandson an insistent tug, and Cyrus allowed himself to be pulled inside. The door slammed behind him, shutting out the world.

"Come on in out of the storm, son. We have much to read and talk about."

Something resembling the human emotion of excitement passed over Cyrus's face as he entered the house, to begin his new adventure.