Lunar duo

Lunar duo is a fan term for the legendary duo of Sinnoh that consists of the Legendary and the Mythical. Cresselia and Darkrai are commonly seen as polar opposites, being one is based on the crescent moon and the other on the new moon. Also, Cresselia and Darkrai reside on Fullmoon Island and Newmoon Island respectively, which are direct mirror images of each other. Cresselia and Darkrai are also known as the subconscious duo because of how Darkrai is said to give people nightmares, while Cresselia gives people pleasant dreams. Furthermore, Cresselia and Darkrai also appear in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Explorers of Darkness and Explorers of Sky as enemies.

History
Their legend is introduced in Generation IV, where the two each resided on an Island: Cresselia on Fullmoon Island, and Darkrai on Newmoon Island. Each Island are directly facing each other and have no Pokémon can be found aside from the duo. When Darkrai casts nightmares on the people, Cresselia arrives and replaces them with pleasant dreams.

Cresselia
Cresselia, the Lunar Pokémon, can be found Sinnoh in, and. She is also available on Marvelous Bridge in, on Crescent Isle in , and Ultra Space Wilds, specifically in the Cliff World in. Cresselia's stats are more defensive than its counterpart, having a base 120 for Defense and 130 for Special Defense, as well as having base 120 HP. Cresslia's signature move, causes the user to faint, but restores the, PP and removes all status conditions (except fainting) of the Pokémon that is sent out to take its place.

In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, Cresselia can be found on Fullmoon Island after visiting Sailor Eldritch's son who fell into a sleep which he cannot be awaken and is plagued by nightmares. After interacting with Cresselia, she will leave a Lunar Wing and start roaming.

In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, after bringing a Lunar Wing to the center of Marvelous Bridge, a Cresselia will appear and trigger a battle.

In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Cresselia can be found at Crescent Isle, while in the center area of it is a strange ring hovering in the air through which the player can encounter.

In Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon Cresselia can be found in the Ultra Space Wilds by following a red Ultra Wormhole to the Cliff World during the Ultra Warp Ride.

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness, Cresselia appears as an NPC, who has made it her mission to foil Darkrai's plot of plunging everyone in the world into an endless nightmare. After healing of his nightmare, she joins the player's team as a guest in Dark Crater. After defeating Darkrai, Cresselia will offer to officially join the team back at Sharpedo Bluff.

In Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, Cresselia appears as the guardian of the Yellow Gem.

Darkrai
Darkrai is the Pitch-Black Pokémon, found on Newmoon Island in, and  with the use of the Member Card.

Darkrai's stats are on the offensive side, unlike Cresselia, whose stats are more defensive, having 135 Special Attack and has 125 Speed. Darkrai's signature move, puts all adjacent foes to, with an accuracy of 50% for each Pokémon (80% prior to Generation VII).

In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, Darkrai made Sailor Eldritch's son fell into a sleep and plagued by nightmares. It can be found on Newmoon Island after using the Member Card to enter the locked inn at Canalave City, whereupon after going to sleep the player will experience a nightmare and wake up on Newmoon Island. Where Darkrai can be found and be able to battle.

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness, Darkrai is revealed to be the main antagonist of the game in the post-game story. He wants to cover the world in darkness, and was behind the collapse of the Temporal Tower in the main storyline of the game. His interference is also the reason the player was separated from and turned into a Pokémon. In the post-game story, he turns his attention to distorting the fabric of space to cover the world in darkness.

In PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond, It is the main antagonist in the game. He resided in Wish Park and wants to merge the Wish Park with PokéPark.

In Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, Darkrai is the final boss, summoned by Blake Hall.

In the anime

 * See also: Darkrai (M10)

In the Pokémon anime, Cresselia and Darkrai debuted separately, both having met Ash in one way or the other.

Cresselia and Darkrai made their debut appearance in the in Sleepless In Pre-Battle!. Cresselia normally returns to her shrine on Fullmoon Island during a certain time of the year when also comes by to cause nightmares. In the episode, however, it came earlier due to it being lured by 's machine that was causing nightmares. She may also leave her feathers, which people find to help stop the nightmares caused by Darkrai. Cresselia is normally in the same place as Darkrai to stop it giving nightmares but due to Darkrai's early coming, the people in Canalave City had nightmares for several days. One night, Darkrai was concealing itself when Cresselia used her abilities to reveal it from the darkness. The two then battled and Darkrai hid itself once more in the shadows.

Darkrai starred in the first, The Rise of Darkrai as the hero of the movie, taking the task of holding off the fighting between  and  until  and  could put the Oración disk in the Space-Time Towers' music player to calm the two Legendary Pokémon down. It reappeared in a cameo in the end credits of Arceus and the Jewel of Life.

A Cresselia first appeared in a short in the beginning of Giratina and the Sky Warrior. A Darkrai appeared in the Pikachu short, Pikachu, What's This Key?. Another one appeared in Dream a Little Dream from Me!. In League Unleashed!, in the Lily of the Valley Conference was shown to have a Darkrai. In the following episode, Conway revealed that he had easily defeated eight Gym Leaders of the Sinnoh region using only Darkrai. In the Sinnoh League semi-finals, this Darkrai easily defeated Ash's Heracross,, and. However, it was defeated by Ash's Sceptile in The Semi-Final Frontier!.

In the movie adaptations
Darkrai plays a major role in the first, The Rise of Darkrai. Likewise, it appears in the of the film by Ryo Takamisaki.

Sird let out a beam of light from a Poké Ball upon seeing flying away. Thinking that Sird was trying to retrieve Deoxys,, , , , and tried to stop her, and  charged into the light of the Poké Ball. Within moments, the five Pokédex holders were turned into stone, and a black shadow appeared in front of Sird.

When Sird reappeared in front of her Team Galactic colleagues and explained what happened, the black shadow was revealed to be Darkrai, though Sird still did not reveal its name.

It was revealed that Sird had released Darkrai into the Distortion World due to it being too difficult for her to control. It first faced its arch-rival. Charon later took control of the Pokémon, and, along with and, used it in a battle against the Sinnoh Legendary Pokémon in the climax of the chapter. Darkrai was later freed from Charon's control, and departed to parts unknown.

Cresselia appears under the ownership of, who caught her on Fullmoon Island in order to give Sailor Eldritch's son the cure to wake up from a terrible nightmare. Cresselia followed her Trainer into the Distortion World where she squared up against her nemesis, Darkrai. Eventually, got on Cresselia in order to chase Charon who was commanding Giratina to fly him out of the Distortion World.

In the Pokémon Try Adventure manga
A Cresselia debuted in TA26.

In the Pocket Monsters DP manga
A Darkrai appeared in The Illusory Pokémon Darkrai Appears!!.

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梦与月的宝可梦