Lunar duo
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The subject of this article has no official name. The name currently in use is a fan designator; see below for more information. |
Lunar duo is a fan term for the Legendary duo of Sinnoh that consists of the Legendary Pokémon Cresselia and the Mythical Pokémon Darkrai.
Overview
The Lunar Pokémon Cresselia and Pitch-Black Pokémon Darkrai are commonly seen as polar opposites, with the former being based on the crescent moon and the latter on the new moon. Cresselia and Darkrai reside on Fullmoon Island and Newmoon Island, respectively, which are direct mirror images of each other. Additionally, Darkrai is said to give people nightmares, while Cresselia gives people pleasant dreams. The duo appears in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky as enemies. While Cresselia is female, Darkrai is a gender unknown Pokémon.
In the core series games
Cresselia
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- Main article: Cresselia (Pokémon)
Cresselia, the Lunar Pokémon, can be found roaming Sinnoh in Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Brilliant Diamond, and Shining Pearl. She is also available on Marvelous Bridge in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, on Crescent Isle in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, and in the Ultra Space Wilds Cliff World in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.
Cresselia's stats are more defensive than its counterpart, having a base 110 for Defense and 120 for Special Defense (base 120 Defense and base 130 Special Defense prior to Generation IX), as well as having base 120 HP. Cresselia's signature move, Lunar Dance, causes the user to faint, but restores the HP and PP and removes all non-volatile status conditions (except fainting) of the Pokémon that is sent out to take its place. Its signature move in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Lunar Blessing, instead restores 50% of Cresselia's HP, cures its status conditions, and obscures it.
Darkrai
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- Main article: Darkrai (Pokémon)
Darkrai, the Pitch-Black Pokémon, found on Newmoon Island in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum 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 125 Speed. Darkrai's signature move, Dark Void, puts all adjacent foes to sleep, with an accuracy of 50% for each Pokémon (80% prior to Generation VII).
Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum
After obtaining the National Pokédex, the player can encounter Cresselia on Fullmoon Island after being taken there by Sailor Eldritch. After interacting with Cresselia, it will depart, leaving behind the Lunar Feather, and start roaming Sinnoh. In Pokémon Platinum, Darkari will appear on Newmoon Island. The player is required to have obtained the Member Card in order to enter the locked inn at Canalave City and trigger the event to appear on Newmoon Island.
Pokémon Black 2 and White 2
Cresselia can be encountered on the Marvelous Bridge after visiting the Strange House.
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.
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.
Pokémon Sword and Shield
Cresselia can encountered in the Max Lair during Dynamax Adventures.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
Cresselia will appear on Fullmoon Island after the player obtains the National Pokédex. Upon meeting Cresselia, it will drop the Lunar Feather and start roaming Sinnoh. Darkrai will appear in Newmoon Island if the player has a Member Card.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Cresselia will appear in Moonview Arena after the player starts Mission 23: "The Plate of Moonview Arena". If the player has save data from Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl on their Nintendo Switch, Darkrai will appear in Clamberclaw Cliffs, provided they've started Request 93: "The Darksome Nightmare".
Similar movesets
The following are Cresselia and Darkrai's level-up movesets from Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
| Lv. |  Cresselia Psychic |
 Darkrai Dark |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tackle | Shadow Sneak |
| 6 | Confusion | Hypnosis |
| 12 | Slash | Hex |
| 19 | Psycho Cut | Nasty Plot |
| 27 | Recover | Dark Pulse |
| 36 | Psychic | Shadow Ball |
| 57 | Moonblast | Psychic |
| 66 | Lunar Blessing | Dark Void |
| Moves in bold get STAB. Moves in italics do no damage. | ||
Similar base stats
| Pokémon | Cresselia |
Darkrai | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP |
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| Attack |
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| Defense |
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| Sp. Attack |
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| Sp. Defense |
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| Speed |
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| Total | 580 | 600 |
In the spin-off games
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky
In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness and Explorers of Sky, 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 Azurill 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.Darkrai is the game's main antagonist during the post-game story. He wants to cover the world in darkness and was behind the collapse of the Temporal Tower in the game's main storyline. His interference is also why the player was separated from Grovyle 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.
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Spoilers end here. |
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Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
In Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, Cresselia appears as the guardian of the Yellow Gem. Darkrai serves as the final boss of the main story, being summoned by Blake Hall using the Shadow Crystal.
PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond
In PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond, Darkrai is the game's main antagonist. He resided in Wish Park and wants to merge the Wish Park with PokéPark.
Pokkén Tournament
In Pokkén Tournament, Darkrai appear as a playable fighter in the Arcade and Switch versions of the game. Cresselia appears as a Support Pokémon in all versions of the game alongside Reshiram.
Pokémon Masters EX
In Pokémon Masters EX, both Cresselia and Darkrai serve a notable role during the Sinnoh chapter of the Villain Arc, with Cyrus seeking to plunge the world into an eternal nightmare and the heroes opposing him with Cresselia's power.
| Dex | Trainer | NDex | Pokémon | Type | Weakness | Role | EX role | Base potential | Availability | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #100 | 
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Sygna Suit Cyrus |
#0491 | 
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Darkrai |
Dark
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Fairy
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★★★★★☆EX | Poké Fair Sync Pair Scout |
| #094 | 
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Sygna Suit Dawn |
#0488 | 
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Cresselia♀ |
Psychic
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Dark
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★★★★★☆EX | Poké Fair Sync Pair Scout |
In the anime
Main series
In the Pokémon anime, Cresselia and Darkrai debuted separately, both having met Ash in one way or the other.
Pokémon movies
- Main article: Darkrai (M10)
Darkrai starred in the movie, The Rise of Darkrai as the hero of the movie, taking the task of holding off the fighting between Dialga and Palkia until Ash and Dawn 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 cameo in the beginning of Giratina and the Sky Warrior. A Darkrai appeared in the Pikachu short, Pikachu, What's This Key?.
Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl
Cresselia and Darkrai made their debut appearance in the anime in Sleepless In Pre-Battle!. Cresselia normally returns to her shrine on Fullmoon Island during a certain time of the year when Darkrai also comes by to cause nightmares. In the episode, however, it came earlier due to it being lured by Team Rocket'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.
In League Unleashed!, Tobias 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 in The Semi-Final Frontier!, this Darkrai easily defeated Ash's Heracross, Torkoal, and Gible. However, it was defeated by Ash's Sceptile, marking its only known loss.
Pokémon the Series: XY
A Darkrai appeared in Dream a Little Dream from Me!, plunging Pikachu, Meowth, and Squishy into a shared nightmare.
Pokémon Journeys: The Series
Cresselia and Darkrai appeared in Nightfall? Nightmares! and A Midsummer Night's Light!. Upon being targeted by Team Rocket's Matori Matrix elite unit, Cresselia fled Fullmoon Island to mainland Sinnoh. Darkrai, sensing Cresselia was in trouble, left Newmoon Island to help her. Cresselia was later encountered by Dawn and Chloe, who treated her injuries. When Team Rocket appeared again to capture Cresselia, Darkrai appeared to defend her, getting severely hurt in the process. After being healed by Cresselia's Lunar Dance, Darkrai defeated Team Rocket and subsequently headed back home with Cresselia. As the two departed, Chloe theorized that Cresselia was living close to Darkrai in order to keep it from getting lonely on its remote island.
In the manga
Pokémon Adventures
Diamond & Pearl arc
In Double Trouble with Dialga and Palkia IV, Team Galactic Commander Sird was revealed to be in possession of Darkrai. She had first used it at the end of the FireRed & LeafGreen arc, where its clash with Mewtwo had led to Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Silver getting turned into stone, although its identity wasn't revealed back then.
Platinum arc
Cresselia appeared under the ownership of Palmer, who had 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, whom Sird had released there due to it being too difficult to control. Darkrai was later taken control of by Charon, who used it and Heatran to battle Sinnoh's other Legendary Pokémon. When Charon tried to escape, Platinum rode on Cresselia to pursue him. Once Charon had been defeated, Darkrai departed to parts unknown, while Cresselia chose to stay with Palmer.
Pocket Monsters DP
A Darkrai appeared in The Illusory Pokémon Darkrai Appears!!.
Movie adaptations
- Main article: Darkrai (M10)
Darkrai plays a major role in the first Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl movie, The Rise of Darkrai. Likewise, it appears in the manga adaptation of the film by Ryo Takamisaki.
Pokémon Try Adventure
A Cresselia debuted in TA26.
See also
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This article is a part of Project Fandom, a Bulbapedia Project that aims to write comprehensive articles on every aspect of the Pokémon Fandom. |
