"A SWIRL in the air where your head was once, here.
You walked under this tree, spoke to a moon for me
I might almost stand here and believe you alive." - Carl Sandburg
Before humans, there were pokemon - but before pokemon there was life. And before light, there had to be darkness.
Unlike the legends, passed down from human to human and pokemon to pokemon, the legendaries were not created all at once. In fact, their births were solely contingent to the earth itself. As the world came into creation their beings arose alongside them, never before or afterward, in the same way Arceus never made the world but was merely borne beside it. Looking back, Cresselia found the notion so simple, as rather than relegating things to the chicken-egg debate on which came first, it was much easier if they appeared at the same time, a creation that is produced alongside a creature that governs it. So simple, so neat and tidy.
Yet it did not explain why she was here.
The pokemon looked up at the sky, a rather beautiful shade of blue this time of day, wondering who was responsible for that. Beside her, unfurling itself, came a high-pitched yawn from the pokemon Shaymin. Ever since she awoke, underneath a tree on a full moon, she had taken to following the other and learning as much as she could from this strange new world they all shared. "A good rest?" she inquired.
Shaymin stretched, smiling. "Very good, thank you." After a moment they asked, "Did you not sleep?"
"I did," she lied immediately, "I woke up before you."
Rising above the ground, Cresselia allowed Shaymin to climb up onto her back for a higher vantage point. Their small nose sniffed the air, acute to the scent of flowers even far away, and it immediately scrunched up at what it detected. "Head there," Shaymin pointed off to the mountains, "There's a foul stench."
Cresselia refrained from asking what 'it' was, allowing curiosity to drive her forward to where craggy spires bloomed on the horizon. During her time with Shaymin she had found the creature to have the patience of shrew, often refusing to answer questions she should be smart enough to answer herself, and becoming their own mini-explosion whenever someone was causing unnecessary destruction, as the case of Moltres razing an entire plateau for a simple night's rest (She had never seen a bird stutter so hard before). Shaymin' grassy fur held seeds of all the flowers they came across and planted them wherever they roamed (Cresselia was certain she was allowed to accompany the pokemon solely because she could fly them to hard-to-reach places). Despite the other's temper, Cresselia was grateful for their insight and experience, knowing she would not know nearly as much as she did without their guidance.
After an hour of travel, she tested the waters on the questions bubbling to her surface. "What does it smell like?" If it was fire, she figured it was unlikely to be Moltres, knowing they would not want another tongue-lashing from their misdemeanor so soon. The only other culprit she could think of would be Heatran, a silent brute she only knew from Shaymin's tales, that rarely came above land.
"Like a rotten rafflesia," noted Shaymin, hiding their nose under a paw with distaste. "It smells like poison."
Cresselia hesitated on continuing, looking up at the mountains that now loomed over them. Gone was the sun, hidden behind the vast towers that held them in shadow. "Perhaps it is unwise to continue then." All of her intrigues became squashed under the acute sense of unease, sharp bricks of ice growing inside her stomach and leadening her limbs. An innate sense of unease caused her to break out into a cold sweat, a feeling she never felt before that allowed the first half of Shaymin's complaint to fall on deaf ears.
"... go myself then," declared the pokemon as it hopped off Cresselia's back, toddling forward without any of the inhibitions she held.
Cresselia forced herself to swallow hard, a rock tumbling down her throat as she watched her teacher, and perhaps, only friend, go alone into dangerous territory. After a terse moment, her better judgment pushed her forward after Shaymin's disappearing form. She knew if she stayed behind, she'd be eaten away with regret if anything happened.
"I guess you're not the Scaredy Cat pokemon," said Shaymin as she finally caught up. "If it's poison then I can't let it continue, it'll taint the flowers. I bet it was one of those idiotic Regis, so intent on drilling holes and not listening to anyone other than Regigigas, probably Regirock that unearthed a gas leak from some underground phosphorous cavern that got oxidized." Shaymin continued to grumble out potential offenders as they weaved around to whichever mountain Shaymin's nose took them. Here at the base, there was a chilling wind that once or twice swept the lightweight grass-type off their feet, causing Cresselia to double back for them and fight against the turbulent gales. No matter where she looked she couldn't see the sun at all, blocked by a rocky barrier and forced to blindly trusting in her companion to provide the way.
After several more hours, having to wind past every mountain, Shaymin finally lifted their nose skyward. Cresselia followed and saw only a steep incline that shot straight up, looking further beyond and feeling the fear creep back in as she saw night was falling at a rapid pace above them.
"You lost the right to chicken out, come on," stomped Shaymin impatiently on her back.
Exhaling through her nose, Cresselia began the ascent.
She didn't have the same nose as Shaymin, but you'd have to be noseless to not begin smelling the stench that rained upon them. It was hard to describe, somewhere between an old carcass left under a rock and whatever unholy gunk that could be found between Groudon's toes. Cresselia tried to smell less by breathing through her mouth, but that also proved a mistake as she felt it stick to the back of her throat and slide down with the intent to make her throw it back up. Cresselia found herself flying faster just so she could keep that last glint of sunlight from disappearing, but it still slipped away and left her empty with nothing to fill herself back with except dread.
Near the top, it became easier to see that a cave had been carved out on the side, a black hole that was sunk in slightly you couldn't see it from the bottom. She would have never been able to see it had she not been searching for it.
As Cresselia peered into the dark, straining to find some shape or form hidden behind it, she found herself being pulled forward, so unlike her previous instincts to get as far away as possible. She held her breath, unable to hear Shaymin's wary whisper about Giratina or feel his small paws tug at the feathers on her back, encapsulated by the void that drew her further inside.
It wasn't so much 'dark' as it felt the absence of light. Cresselia knew she could shimmer with the reflection of the moon but there was nothing for her to navigate with. She continued, lost in a trance, or perhaps it really was poison, with all reason or logic pushed somewhere to the back of her mind. The deeper she got the more claustrophobic she felt, finding a sensation that was similar to sandpaper grating against her underbelly and wings, the rational part of her brain noting she was going through a passage in the mountain and she should really quite or else she'll get stuck- she kept going.
Luckily the tapering passage opened up to a larger chamber at the end. Cresselia found her eyes stung as she blinked them, wondering if she had kept them open the entire way. She didn't have long to ponder as an irate shout behind her bounced off the walls straight into her ear ducts.
" WHAT were you THINKING ?" howled Shaymin, who now climbed up onto her head and pounded his stumpy paw against the jewel on her forehead. She winced but attempted to stay still so the other wouldn't fall off. "I specifically said to wait , that this could be one of Giratina's portals to the distortion world, and you jump in without a second thought! You're lucky I was wrong or else I'd feed you to Giratina myself! You idiot! Buffoon! Brainless lunatic!" With each insult, they swatted Cresselia in the face again, now causing her to shake her head and try to lean away from the hits. They didn't hurt at all but the shame was already making her want to duck her head.
Once she had been suitably lectured, Shaymin hopped off and took several steps forward, head up and nose in the air. "There's a small hole at the top here, to let air and light in… but other than that it's just a musty dark ca-" They stopped abruptly, staring at one corner at the far end of the cavern. Cresselia followed their line of sight but couldn't see anything, the light from above not strong enough to reach. Shaymin's brow drew into a hard line, the leaves bristling like fur, and said, "Who're you?"
Cresselia started at that. She still couldn't see but Shaymin had detected something here with them. She wasn't a fighter, having rarely if at ever used any of her abilities to cause harm, but she knew some of the others were highly aggressive and prone to attack. Groudon and Kyogre were good examples, frothing at the mouths if the other so much as breathed in their directions.
For a moment there was no response, no shift in the corner that would allow Cresselia to believe there was someone over there. She shifted slightly, feeling a throb in her chest along with that similar pull luring her over.
"Cresselia-!" Shaymin whispered between clenched teeth, "It could be dangerous, I don't know what that is."
"It doesn't hurt to be gentle," she said back, barely believing her own words. Floating halfway over to the shadow she paused underneath the hole at the top that finally allowed for a strand of light to hit her feathers and cause her body to shimmer. She watched, wide-eyed, as the shadow was slowly dissolved before her but not entirely. It was like a black scorch on the wall, and she visibly jumped when the thing began to move. "H-hello there?" Her voice came out feebly, throat dry as the shadow continued to manifest.
It slowly took shape, forming a ragged bottom that looked like a torn skirt, clawed arms extended from the upper torso, and deep red fangs protruded from where a neck should be, similar to a bloody maw as a wisp of white unfolded and billowed out to reveal one piercing blue eye. It was a creature she's never seen before, and she screamed when it shot forward and grabbed her by the neck.