Prologue
She walked slowly along the side of the lake, taking steps so even that it seemed each one was carefully planned. Her arms hung loosely at her sides, but did not sway in the slightest as she walked. She looked straight ahead as she walked, her hazel eyes focused on a sole figure standing by the lakeside, staring out at something that was not yet there.
The air was fresh and clean. Something that, a lifetime ago, she would have noticed, and rejoiced in. She was no longer who she had been however, and she didn't seem to notice the air quality. Her attention remained focused on the sole figure.
Starly swooped through the air in intricate patterns. Goldeen leapt gracefully from the lake, landing so perfectly that it almost seemed rehearsed. A few Magikarp tried to imitate their more elegant fish counterparts, and failed miserably, splashing water everywhere, and thoroughly disturbing the rest of the Pokemon.
She noticed none of them.
She stopped a few feet from the figure she had been watching so intently. He was a man with pale blue hair, and distant eyes, and he seemed to be paying as little attention to her as she had to the local wildlife. Nonetheless, she stood up a bit straighter, and tucked her hands tightly behind her back, her gaze never wavering in the slightest.
For a while, they were both entirely silent, and the sounds of nature surrounding them.
Then, he spoke. "Ceres," he said indifferently, still looking out at the lake.
"Cyrus," she replied, softly, but clearly.
The wild Pokemon had fallen entirely silent as these two names were spoken.
The man turned to look at her, and held out a single object.
She accepted it silently, and he gave her a curt nod of dismissal. She turned on her heel and walked away, taking the same precise steps as before, her face a mask of indifference, her arms returning to their usual position at her sides.
Cyrus watched her leave, and then turned his attention back to the lake, muttering a single word: "Mesprit."
He waited a while, staring out at what was not yet there. Then, he called of a single order, and with a swish of purple wings, he was gone.
The wild Pokemon slowly began to speak again, their conversations all about the two strange humans, and their near silent exchange at the lakeside. None of them could guess their true purpose there, none of them had heard Cyrus' muttered promise, and none of them knew that his plans had only now, truly commenced.