The Creator

He never remembers the exact moment of his creation, oh no, but sometimes he remembers vaguely the face of a creature he never saw again. A vague shape, black and white, with some green and red mixed in somewhere. And maybe some gold? Throughout his childhood he had tried to remember, but as all memories do, it distorted as the years went by.

By the time he was full grown and traveling on his own, he completely forgot.

And now he stands on a cliffside along the beach, alongside a handful of Pokemon all looking out over the ocean. The wind ruffles their hair and clothing, and the sun is just beginning to rise, but can hardly be seen through the dark clouds and swirling ocean.

He is positive he saw something that caused those memories to emerge once more and he clenches his fists at his side. He isn’t sure what it was that he saw, but as the fog begins to dissipate it’s clear that he’s in the right direction. It looks like a snow-white horse standing above the water, in a ray of sunlight that filters down through the clouds.

Pokemon whisper to each other, for none of them have seen it before. They try to get closer looks, their only barrier the edge of the cliff, and the sharp craggy stones beneath it. The Pokemon over the water never moves.

All of the Pokemon look over to Rokas, as if he has some sort of explanation to give them, being the only Legendary Pokemon they currently know of and can speak to. Because all Legendary Pokemon know each other, right? This one may not be Legendary, of course, but in being so unique as to have never been seen before, Rokas is positive he knows what it is, and his lips twitch.

It takes him a moment. He clears his throat, unable to take his eyes off the Pokemon above the water. “I remember having seen this Pokemon only once,” he says, “and my father only mentioned it a few times. It’s the Creator.”

“Creator?” they whisper to each other. A Braviary flaps his wings and a Chansey murmurs quiet enough he cannot hear.

After a moment they become silent and it’s almost like the whole world comes to a temporary stop. Rokas wills it to keep going. He’s sweating. Why is the Creator here? It’s what all of them want to know and feel like they are never going to get.

But one step at a time, the Pokemon finally moves across the ocean. It is careful and precise in its steps and the lingering fog parts for it. The clouds take over the ray of sunshine it had been standing in.

Rokas’ fingernails dig into his palms. It isn’t looking at the other Pokemon. It’s looking directly at him, and all of his childhood wondering comes back to him.

“Papaaaaa…” he sings, pushing past Regice and Registeel. He almost runs into his father’s leg, and digs his heels into the dirt before he can.

Regigigas doesn’t appear to have heard him, so he starts to tug on his sleeve. “Papa! Listen to me!” Beep beep beep.

The enormous man hums and turns to Regirock, crouching as he does. He’s smiling and puts a hand on Regirock’s head. “What’s got you so riled up, son?”

Regirock balls up his hands and gives the worst scowl he can, as if to say, hey! You’re gonna listen to me! He takes a deep breath, and then says very fast, “how come I keep rememberin’ a weird Pokemon ‘n stuff cause I keep thinking about it ‘n you keep sayin’, maybe when you’re older!” He throws his arms to his sides and takes a deep breath. “Well ‘m older now!”

“It’s hardly been a month!”

“”m still older ain’t I?”

His sister beeps, nodding.

“Yeah!” says Registeel, who throws her arms out and does a little twirl on one foot. She gives a series of beeps and stops her foot down. “I wanna know who the weird Pokemon is too!”

The colossal Pokemon lets out a sigh and a sheepish smile, and gestures for the lot of them to sit on the ground with him. Regice and Registeel crawl into his lap, but Regirock sits beside him, folding his arms on his thigh and looking up at him expectantly. He feels he could just fall asleep right here in the plains, with the stars shining above, and the story his father begins to tell.

“You see, not too long ago, I did a great service to the world. I stopped the fighting between the Behemoth, Leviathan, and Ziz, who were beginning to destroy the earth--”

“Papaaaa we know this already!” Regirock flopped across his lap, bumping into his sisters as he did. They beeped loudly at him.

“Well I wanna hear it again!” Registeel cries. Regice looks down and shrugs.

Their father sighs again, giving Regice a pat on her shoulder. “Well, I guess since we already know that story...I’ll tell you another time, Registeel. This is about the Creator, anyway.”

“The Creator?” Regirock asks, propping his head up and bending his legs over his back. “What’s the Creator?”

“The Creator, is what!” Regigigas rubs his chin and gives the three of them a nod. “The Creator came down to seal the trio after I had stopped them. I told it that without them around, I would be lonely, but it didn’t do anything about it. So I went and spent the next few years chipping away at three different sculptures. When it returned, after begging it to, it gave life to the three of you. The Creator is…”

“It creates!” the three of them chime.

Regigigas laughs, scooping them all up. “Yes, it does! And the Creator gave us everything here. It created the Pokemon that allow this world to exist: Behemoth for land, Leviathan for ocean, and from them, Ziz for the sky. I was created to--”

“To make sure the land is good,” Regirock says through laughter and sheepishly patting down his clothing. “And--and Shaymin gets to fly!” He throws his arms up, hitting Regigigas’ face. “And make flowers. And Mew creates more life. And Kyurem it...it talks to mortals!”

His father’s eyebrows rise and he blinks. “You sure do pay attention!” He laughed and kissed the top of his head. “I thought you were asleep during all of that.

“I was…” Registeel mumbles.

“I think it’s kinda cool. ‘n maybe one day I’ll get to meet them.” Regirock looks up at the sky, a smile on his face. “I still wonder what the Creator is.”

“Well… I think it is...”

“Arceus.”

A Kabutops tips her head and raises a brow at him. Her scythes click together. “Arce-what now?” she asks, but Rokas doesn’t answer her.

He takes a step toward the edge of the cliff, his toes hanging off the end. Arceus continues to approach him, and it stops before him. Rokas looks down, and the other Pokemon become silent. It is much bigger than Rokas anticipated, and much more intimidating, with its steely red on green eyes and long mane and tail fluttering in the breeze.

When Arceus does not speak, Rokas looks up and directly into its eye. “Creator,” he says, voice shaking. “I never imagined that I’d ever get to meet you.”

Still it does not speak. Rokas, unsure of what to say, rubs his arm with his other hand and swallows hard. “Is there...anything you would like me to do?”

“Yes.”

Rokas tenses up. A light appears in front of him, and he holds out his hands. It is large enough to fit in both palms and settles there, dimming and forming a shape reminiscent of a piece of blue coral.

“Regirock, I have watched you and your siblings since you were created. I have chosen you to be the player of the Azure Flute.”

Pokemon around him start to whisper again. None of them are confident enough to actually speak up and many of them take a few steps back. Rokas stands there, staring at the flute, trying to tune out their whispers and scuffling.

He looks up at Arceus. “Why?”

“Because I feel it is right, and because you are loyal and have a natural curiosity.”

“I--I don’t mean to be insulting, Creator, but isn’t Kyurem much the same? Or Grace! She leads whole flocks of--”

“My decision has been made.” Arceus lowers its head and places one hoof in front of Rokas. Is it bowing? He doesn’t know, and he’s too scared to ask, but he dips his head in return. He’s trying not to shake, but his fingers tremble around the flute. “You will be my harbinger. You, and only you, can play my flute to awaken me from my slumber.”

“How?”

Arceus lifts its head. “The notes are on the plates. You will understand when the time comes.” Without another word, it turns with a flick of its tail to look out over the ocean. Rokas opens his mouth to say more, but snaps it shut before he can. That would be rude, he thinks, to speak to someone as they are leaving. So he clasps it with shaking hands and watches as the clouds part over them. A sunbeam shines on Arceus and in no more than a second, it has disappeared.

Should he practice? He can feel a power unbeknownst to him, something stranger even than his father, and with its glass-like sheen, his immediate response is to want to crush it. The Braviary hops over and tries to give it a look, but the Chansey pushes him away because “dear, you don’t want to overwhelm him!”

“Well, I’d say we’re ALL overwhelmed,” the Braviary snaps, giving his wing a flick in her face. “What is the creator, boy?”

The prodding shocks Rokas out of his daze and he loosens his grip. He wouldn’t want to shatter something given to him by the Creator, of all Pokemon, would he?

Though he’s still shaking, he turns to look at all of them. He gestures for them to sit down around him, and while some bail, a good lot of them sit down around him. “The Creator is Arceus…”

“...and Arceus is the first Pokemon to exist, and as I know it, will be the last. The Alpha Pokemon.” Regigigas ruffles his sleepy son’s hair and give the three of them a tight squeeze. “I’m afraid that’s all I can tell you, except for the stories I’ve already said. The Creator does not show itself often.”

Regirock frowns, sighs, and then yawns. Registeel is already asleep and Regice almost there. “I still wanna meet it…” he says.

“Maybe one day.”