Eh. So I was poking around the fandom a couple of days ago, stumbled upon SilverUmbra's profile, and the Muse got ahold of me from there. I say, it was a nice change of pace from my dark ponderings of Team Galactic of late. Anyway, just to be different, here's a not-so-fluffy Oneshot at the beginning of the world.
Disclaimer: Written in response to a challenge posted on SilverUmbra's profile, 09/18/08. I do not own Pokemon.
It was raining at Lake Valor. Droplets rippled the surface of the water, stretching out across the lake to wash up against the tiny island in the middle of the water. Every so often, lighting would lance out and strike the water, accompanied with the customary crash of thunder. It was during these times that a small form would peer from the cavern of the tiny island in the middle of the water.
It had been a rainy day like this when Azelf had awoken before from his slumber. It seemed as if he awoke only during the days that were gloomy, just long enough to watch the dance of the heavens above, before slipping back into unconsciousness.
It was on the third century of the sixth millennium when Azelf woke again. He floated restlessly to the entrance of the cavern to watch the lightning strike against the narrow view of the world he could see.
The world had changed again, something that he had grown used to seeing. Even from the very limited view from the cavern, he could see the ravages time wrought upon the world.
He surveyed the world for a forlorn moment. He was not yet needed. The world, created by the God-of-All Arceus, was still inhabited by creatures that did not yet require his guidance to survive.
Well…there were plants. But plants didn't count.
He was turning around to return to his slumber when a sudden form hurtled into view, nearly assaulting him as he gently rolled to the side.
Stunned, Azelf nearly tripped over his long glittering tails, bringing his paws up over his eyes for protection. He whirled on his intruder, sending a hunk of psychic energy towards it in self-defense.
Surprisingly, the other…being…giggled and deflected his attack with a flick of a paw. Thoroughly disgruntled, Azelf brought his right tail up and slammed it at the intruder, pinning it against the wall. Bringing both hands and his left tail up menacingly, he growled at the intruder.
"What's your name?"
Surprised, Azelf dropped his left tail as he looking into the simpering face of his attacker. Two adorably huge cerulean eyes stared at him, and a pathetically cute tail wrapped around his own tails playfully.
"No! Wait!" the creature burst out before Azelf could reply. "Don't tell me…Kyogre! You're Kyogre!"
Azelf dropped the intruder, which hovered like him above the floor. He pulled his tails behind him and twitched them left, to right, in annoyance.
"I am Azelf, The Herald of Willpower." He declared regally. "Who, or what….are you?"
"I'm Mew!" The pink intruder declared happily, clapping its two paws together. "I just got here. It's kinda boring though. Hey, I know! Let's play a game!"
"Begone, you." Azelf thundered impatiently. "I must return to my slumber. It is not yet time."
"Okay!" Mew replied cheerfully. "I'll come back later, I guess. It was nice to meet you, Azelf!"
Mew twitched its tail around Azelf's body in friendship before speeding out of the cavern and back into the rain.
Azelf ruffled his fur importantly and readied himself for sleep.
It was the fourth century of the seventh millennium when Azelf awoke again. He floated restlessly to the entrance of the cavern, feeling a deep longing to leave his resting place. It was not yet time, but it was close, and he must be there to bestow Willpower when it was needed.
Tucking his stubby paws close behind him, he stretched forth both of his tails and let the strange longing of the sky pull him into the air, speeding him quickly to his destination. He didn't know why he had to move so urgently, but it was close to time.
As he flew, he sensed rather than saw the other forms silently joining him. One came from the other lake, far from him, and was nearly on par with his pace. The other began from a place almost too far for his reckoning, moving slower still, yet still advancing toward their destination quickly.
Azelf knew who they were. They were his egg-mates, Mesprit to his right, and further behind, Uxie. They were caught in a desperate race that none of them understood. Azelf stretched his tails behind him, flapping furiously to further the distance from he and his egg-mate Mesprit.
Whichever one of them reached the destination first was allowed to impart more of their chosen strength. If Azelf won, the being would have the ambition and drive to succeed. If Mesprit won, the being would have compassion and a deep connection to the world around them. If Uxie won, the being would be blessed with intelligence that bounded by none.
They were a symbiotic circle; none could live without the others. But they were not created equally.
Azelf dropped quickly from the sky, diving down in the water to the deepest trenches of the seas, followed swiftly by Mesprit and Uxie. He noticed the beast slumbering in the waters, just beginning to become aware of its existence. Smiling, as he'd won the first race, he touched the leviathan on the head and filled it nearly to the brim with his strength. Then he turned sharply on his tails and raced for the air.
He saw the second beast nestled under a mountain, just beginning to become aware of its existence. Adjusting his flight path, he veered sharply to the right and dove, stunned to see Mesprit undercut him by mere paw-lengths. Spurring his tails harder to claim his victory again, he was agitated to see that Mesprit had reached the beast first. Smugly, his egg-mate began imparting her strength on the beast.
Azelf dove, tucking his tails close to streamline his approach even more. Dropping from the sky like a rock, he touched the behemoth on the head and nearly matched his egg-mate's contribution, losing only by a mere hair. Glaring at each other, they took to the sky again, fiercely competing for the right to impart their strength on the final beast of the sky.
They were both surprised to see Uxie hurtle past them, nearly swimming in the air to impart his strength to the third beast. Tearing after him to the farthest reach of the sky, where the cold chilled their bones, they were both disappointed to see that the third beast was already aware, thanks to Uxie. Their egg-mate wiggled his tails in triumph and hovered slightly behind them as Mesprit and Azelf imparted their strength to the ziz, matching it equally this time. The beast roared to them, already seeing its counterparts below.
The three egg-mates lazily began their journey back to their resting places, knowing that the time for the fourth beast was soon, but not too soon. They separated after a long flight wordlessly, not bothering to even acknowledge any existence on the world apart from their own. Azelf felt the rain sprinkle on his fur as he flew back to his cavern. Thinking nothing else but the slumber until he was called for again, Azelf was surprised to see the pink intruder from before standing at the entrance to his cave, calling piteously.
"Mew?" he asked gruffly as he approached the tiny island in the middle of the water. "What are you doing here?"
Mew turned instantly, a grin plastered on her face (for now, Azelf knew that Mew was a she, thanks to brushing against his egg-mate Uxie). "A-a-zel-f-f! H-how are y-y-you?" She shivered, het wet fur sticking to her body. "I-i-I was w-w-wondering if-f-f y-y-y-ou were –u-u-p!"
"Go in." Azelf commanded, placing his left tail on her wet back. "You'll catch your death."
Together, the two floated into the cavern, Azelf hovering expectantly on a certain spot on the floor. Thinking hard about what he wished to accomplish, a small flame sprouted from the ground and grew in size, warming the cave.
"C-c-cool!" Mew shivered again. "H-h-how did y-y-y-ou do that?"
Azelf smiled. "I touched my egg-mate. He knows everything. For a while, I do too." He stretched out a paw and the flame danced around Mew and curled about her form in a lazy spiral, considerably warming her body. She shook a couple of times, letting the water droplets off her fur in lazy flicks.
"I'm sorry I was gruff to you last time." Azelf broke the silence after an uncomfortable pause, curling his tails about himself in a gesture of nervousness. "I…it's quiet here."
Mew looked through the flames gently surrounding her body with her adorably huge eyes, nodding at him to continue.
"Um…that's all…really." Azelf finished lamely after another uncomfortable pause. "So….what do you do around here….there… anyway?"
Mew giggled as Azelf flicked both of his tail-tips against his chest in a gesture of extreme nervousness. "Well, I sorta just…I play. I find friends to play with and I play."
Azelf found himself oddly fascinated by her, even though he could feel the lure of slumber calling to him. "Do continue." He commanded, before shortly clearing his throat and looking to the floor of the cavern below. "I mean…if that's all right with you."
Mew looked at him with her bubbly eyes and smiled. "No, it's quite all right."
The rain had happened to stop by the time Azelf could no longer ignore the call to awaken another beast. He and Mew had undertaken a long conversation about nothing really in particular than the fact that they were different, and what their roles would be in the coming ages, and both had strangely found it loath to stop. When he could finally ignore the pull to the sky no longer, Azelf bid a hasty goodbye to Mew and launched himself quickly towards the fourth beast.
Azelf knew that he was far behind his egg-mates, upon meeting Uxie flying back to his own cavern. He twitched a tail curiously at the Herald of Willpower, his sightless eyes taking in the sight of Azelf flying furiously towards the fourth beast before continuing back to his own slumber.
Mesprit had finished imparting her knowledge and was circling lazily above the slumbering beast in triumph. Azelf twitched a tail towards his head in a gesture of guiltiness before leaning over and filling the beast with what little of his strength he could. He felt a twinge of pity towards the colossus; with too little of his strength, the beast would find it hard to summon his faculties and accomplish anything.
Mesprit followed Azelf back to their individual resting places, a solemn expression etched on her features. Azelf knew his egg-mate was no fool, she could sense the turmoil of emotions surrounding him. With a tail flick in his general direction, a gesture of dismissal, she turned and continued to her resting place.
Mew had departed from his cavern when Azelf arrived, thoroughly exhausted. He was unwilling to resist his urge to slumber this time, and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
It was in the ninth century of the seventeenth millennium when Azelf awoke again to a fierce rumbling. It seemed as if his very cavern was being shattered to the core, and Azelf was momentarily terrified. He floated restlessly to the edge of his cavern, peering out onto the slice of the world that he could see.
The colossus had awoken. He could see it from the mouth of the tiny island in the middle of the water, strangely attached to the land beyond the lake by long sinewy tendons. The beast took a shuddering step forward, and in response, Azelf felt the ground rumble uncontrollably. The beast took another shuddering step forward, and the ground respond with a groan of stress, barely holding together.
Azelf felt rather than saw the little figure bounce up in front of him, nearly colliding with the familiar pink form as it jumped in his face. Scrambling hastily, Azelf pulled Mew into the cavern with a quick paw as the ground shuddered and groaned with the steps that the fourth beast took.
"Good thing you're awake!" Mew gushed, floating beside Azelf. "It was pretty rough out there for a while."
Azelf looked into Mew's adorably huge and cerulean eyes, noticing the subtle change from the wide-eyed innocence that had been there the last time he'd seen her. "What do you mean?" He asked guardedly, as the land shook almost uncontrollably this time.
"Well, I don't know what you and the other two did, but Kyorge and Groudon had a HUGE fight a couple of millenniums back. It was a doozy, let me tell ya!" Mew gushed.
She giggled slightly, clutching her paws to her mouth to stifle it. "In the end, Rayquaza had to break it up. They had almost destroyed everything that Arceus had created. I'm sure glad the big guy wasn't around to see it. So Rayqauza told Regigigas to move the continents around to prevent it. You know, he's pretty smart! Sometimes….anyway, it's taken Regigigas forever to move the continents. He practically stood there for nearly three millennia before it finally sunk in, I think."
Azelf's head was positively spinning, and he flicked both tails to the sides in a gesture of utter confusion. "You mean…we caused the fight?"
Mew nodded thoughtfully. "You know, I can't be too sure of that, but it seemed like Groudon and Kyorge were just too willing to blow up the whole world. It was kinda scary!"
She hid her face in her paws playfully, before letting loose a gentle peal of clear laughter. Azelf twitched a tail toward his head in a gesture of guiltiness before turning back to observe the fourth beast, whom he know realized was Regigigas.
The lake was being pulled far away from where it had first begun with each shuddering step that Regigigas took. He and Mew watched the beast's progress for a long time. It rained and the forest burned, the forests grew tall again and still they talked, and watched, until finally, in the eighth century of the sixtieth millennium, the continent was in its place. The constant rumbling that had been a companion for so long had ceased, and Regigigas dropped the sinewy tendons that had helped him where he stood.
Azelf looked sadly to Mew from the tiny island in the middle of the water. "I must rest again." He murmured quietly to the little form that had been his constant companion for so long already. "It is not yet time."
"I will be waiting." Mew replied, wrapping a tail around his paw. "I think….it's time for me now, to go and inhabit the world. Until we meet again?"
He touched her heart with the tip of his left tail, a gesture of companionship. "Until we meet again."
Mew flew out of the entrance of the cavern and began her task of inhabiting the world, filling it with all manner of life. Azelf turned over and began to slumber, the lure of sleep too much to overcome. Every few millennia, Mew would dive from the sky, or move her body from wherever she happened to be to Azelf's cavern. She would watch as he slept, tails curled about him.
"Until we meet again," she would whisper, lightly touching his face with her tail or a paw, before moving back out into the world beyond the tiny island in the middle of the lake.
It was in the last century of the third thousandth millennium when Azelf awoke again. It wasn't to the gentle sound of rain, nor to a soothing pawstroke from his companion Mew. Strange creatures he'd never seen before shot horrible shots of poison at him, accompanied by even stranger creatures chucking little spheres towards him.
One of the spheres hit his tail before he could retaliate. With a horrible rush of pain, he felt his body dissolve into nothingness. Before the world went black, he cried out in terror.
"Mew…my companion…until we meet again..."
And the darkness took him.