Running water made for better drinking water than water that didn't move. Still water created all sorts of filth. The second step was filtering the water. The third step was disinfection, to remove any viruses and bacteria.

A stream barreled down the side of the green mountain. The rocks underneath occasionally jutted their smooth surfaces above the water, bubbling up water around them.

Cinccino Hannah returned to the basics: food, water, and shelter. She didn't know where she was, but didn't make any effort to find out. Her journey to follow the wind continued. Along the way, the only other pokemon she saw was a Ribombee that didn't see her. It was lonely.

Traversing the mountain itself came with its own tricks. After drinking some water and getting herself hydrated, Hannah had to continue on through the mountain forests. The trees were caked with deep, verdant moss. From the trees, the moss stretched onto the burgundy soil. Bugs swarmed around different objects like fallen chunks of wood and puddles from the overnight rain.

Hannah's fur was a frizzy wreck, but she didn't have to worry about her appearance here. Whenever it caught onto something, she yanked it instead of taking the time to free herself. As she continued on the path spiraling down the mountain, she kept an eye out for any aggressive animals or traps.

Soon, the path ahead opened up under the blue sky. A field of pillars of gray and brown rocks jut out from a sea of stiff green below. The slope ahead leading down into the green ocean dipped and became a steep cliff. Each of the pillars had gentle green poking out from them and reaching up the side of their walls. Fog covered over the sea of green far below.

Wind pushed against Hannah's face. Her long fur and tail leaned back where she came. The pillars had varying space between them. They stretched out into the morning fog until they vanished from sight.

Hannah visualized her jumping from pillar to pillar. It felt like nature was giving her a challenge to face, though she wasn't sure what waited on the other side. But, ever since that night, her body hadn't felt the same. Her ability to manipulate wind grew weak. Some of the jumps would be a little far for her to make now, but she felt a call to try.

The benefit of a running start would be reserved for the first jump. Cinccino Hannah backed away from the edge, planning to use it. She ran on all fours and leaped.

Gentle whispers flowed into her head. They overwhelmed the fierce wind flying past her ears. Hannah couldn't make out the words, possibly because her focus was on grabbing the rigid rock in front of her. She nailed her claws into the stone, then pulled herself up. She continued to climb until she reached the top of the pillar and balanced on her two feet.

Without a running start, the next pillar looked miles away. Hannah would have to rely on the wind to take her there. She swirled it around her body, but it was only a gentle push: a taunting shadow of what it used to be. Still, even if the wind couldn't help her, she resolved to take the leap anyways.

Hannah tensed her legs and jumped. Her arc was short. She pushed with the wind as hard as she could, but all she gained in return was a nudge and a headache.

She fainted before she reached the ground.


"Just look at yourself. Your job is to sit down here and watch? Pathetic!"


Water splashed in a tiny puddle. It echoed on repeat in Hannah's ears. The ground she laid on had become warm from her body heat. Dirt on her face hadn't been this comfortable before, but she pushed herself up and wiped the side of her arm across her face. She prioritized getting rid of any dirt over her eyes.

"She reminds me of that human. She'll make a fine hero."

Sigils lit up on the dark, black cave walls. They were silver and shaped like burning embers. On closer inspection, Hannah noticed four rectangular prongs on the bottom and a shape like an eye in the center.

"She's going to kill her. Are you going to just watch like you always do?"

The sigils lit a path further in. Hannah gazed up at a yellow beam of light coming from over her head. It was too high and steep to climb up.

With no other direction, Hannah started to walk forward. After a few steps, she realized the cave floor was replaced with tiled bricks. They must've been built by someone.

"I'll send a shooting star through time to grant the wishes of and help those who will rise against me."

Hannah rubbed the sides of her arms as she continued. The path curved down deeper. It grew cooler. Without the echo of water dropping, the whispers seemed louder.

"There have been many before you. Many before you. Many many many many bebebebe-

"There have been many before you. None after."

The floor dropped under Hannah's feet. As she fell, she readied her limbs to catch herself at any second. It was pitch-black. She couldn't see where the floor was.

"Give me visions."

Hannah landed. She grunted as she collapsed on a hard tiled floor.

"So this is the one. Morgan."

Light from further ahead revealed her surroundings. Several pillars stood in front of and behind her. Up ahead, the light came down through countless holes in the cave ceiling. Dark, foreboding moss grew near them.

"Hello there!"

Hannah's fur stood on edge. Her eyes focused forward where the voice came from.

A Wigglytuff with bright blue eyes and a wide smile waved to her. She walked forward as Hannah stayed still in place.

No sound came from Wigglytuff's footsteps. Hannah couldn't feel any emotions either.

She was some sort of spirit or illusion.

"What are you?" Hannah demanded. "Speak now."

"I am Helena," Wigglytuff said. "I was Lugia's Scion some six-hundred years ago."

"Are you the one whispering?"

"Oh, that… That's just the lingering voice of the enemy. Our enemy."

"Who?" she asked.

"I do not know this. I am here for you. We all are."

Lights flickered in the corner of the room. Silver embers danced in the air high over Cinccino Hannah's head. Her head swam staring at them.

"It is an eternal cycle," Wigglytuff Helena said. "The spirits of Scions remain in this world after death to guide our successors. Only after, we pass into the afterlife. I am here to act as a guide for the rest of your living days."

"What do you mean guide?" Hannah questioned.

"To help and befriend, naturally! Would you like to know about me?"

"I… I suppose…?"

"Come, sit!"

Wind shoved Hannah in the back. She flew in the air and landed on top of a smooth rock under the beams of light. Wigglytuff Helena already sat next to her.

"Oh, where to begin…" Helena pondered.

"What," Hannah said.

"Ah, of course. It was some six-hundred years ago. I was a Veritan princess much like yourself."

Hannah blinked and stared at her reminiscent face.

"Lugia chose me as a Scion to stop Valorian invaders. After I did, I left Verity, married, and traveled the world with my husband. And, well, skipping to the end, I died in this very cave. As you can see, a lot of special things happen when a Scion dies."

"Like those sigils on the wall?" Hannah asked.

"Well, only you can see those, and they'll disappear since I am joining you now," she explained. "Scions are naturally drawn to the graveyards of their predecessors. So, what do you think of my tomb? A fine spot, yes?"

"It's… calm?"

Helena's face remained with a still smile. Hannah wasn't sure if she answered correctly.

"Did you choose to die here?" Hannah asked.

"Yes, I did. We're given warnings when it's time so we can choose a place for our next Scion to come to. You may be able to see all of those sigils, but normal people are only pushed away from a Scion's tomb until the next arrives. I've been sleeping here for a while now… Watching the world continue to spin. Back in my day, I didn't even know it did that."

Hannah laughed under her breath, but drowned it out by clearing her throat.

"Oh, but you're probably wondering why your wind is failing you, and why Lugia tried to kill you."

"You know!?"

"The White Star killed the Lugia, and its spirit needs time to recover in order for your powers to be whole again. As for why Lugia tried to attack and manipulate its own Scion, I think those voices are from the person that manipulated Lugia."

"'The enemy'?" Hannah asked in a low voice.

"I don't know who it is, but we'd do best to find out. I suppose there's no sense in lingering here. I've been in this cave long enough for one eternity."

"But, wait, where are we going?"

"Oh, just further in," she said. "You see, I left something of great importance hidden in here. Left a few deadly traps and things just in case so no one could reach it."

"What did you leave?"

"Oh, your weapon of course!" Helena stood up and smiled. "Why, it's our weapon! All of our weapons! Lugia's Scions have used it ever since the Bygone Days."

"Bygone Days?"

"Oof," Helena turned her face down. "That's like me thinking the planet is flat again... I guess knowledge can be lost, too."

Wind pushed up against Hannah's back. She fell off of the rock to the cave floor on her feet.

"First, let us deal with those traps I set up," Helena said. "They're not that bad, just some simple fire pits and spikes. Really just all of the classics."

"But-"

Hannah turned around. Helene had disappeared from sight.

"Chop chop now! You're not getting any younger!"

A small gust slapped Hannah's back. She hopped and bounced forward on her feet, continuing in the direction it pushed her in.

Past another set of parallel stone pillars, a stone door darkened the room. Both of Lugia's wings were engraved on it; one for each door. She got close to it and looked for a way to open it. There weren't any handles, so it seemed like she would have to push it open. It was probably how the trap functioned.

"First up is some flamethrowers. Oh, but you can just open up that door, there. I'll take care of it."

"How did you have technology advanced enough for flamethrowers?" Hannah asked.

"Oh, well, I just call them that now. I just put blast seeds in tubes and tied a string to the door to trigger it."

Hannah put her palms on the center of the door and pushed. She couldn't feel any fear of the blast seeds, but she didn't know whether to be concerned or not. It depended on how many of those tubes she set up.

Red overtook Cinccino Hannah's vision. Screeching wind formed a wall and pushed the oncoming flames away to the walls. She backed her face away to keep from getting burned.

The fire lasted longer than she expected. When it finally cleared, Hannah saw just how many of them she set up. She counted down the sides of the brick wall, then across the top. Multiplying the numbers together, there were forty black tubes with steam protruding from inside. The left and right walls were charred black.

"The next traps are rather immune to my help with wind."

"Then why make them?" Hannah asked. "Seems counterintuitive to put your successor through all of your traps without being able to help."

"I wasn't in my soundest mind. You'll have to forgive me."

"I do. What's next?"

"Well, arrows shooting from the wall. A lot of them. That trap goes straight into the last one I had time to set up."

"Which is?"

"It's a slope that goes down into a bottomless pit. Or, well, bottomless for all intents and purposes."

"I retract my forgiveness."

Hannah walked around the wall of tubes. As expected, a stone hallway was on the other side. There weren't any outward symbols on the walls for arrows traps, so there must've been camouflage.

"When do they fire?" Hannah asked.

"Certain stone panels are actually buttons. If you walk only in the dead center, there won't be any arrows."

Hannah looked down at the floor. There were columns of equally sized bricks set up. She did a quick count down, then went to the center row. She walked through the path down the center. As she did, her view of the end of the hallway grew bigger.

"You know, I was so looking forward to guiding a Scion who also had the Veritan blessing in their life. But with you having the Valorian blessing as well, it seems so different from my experience."

"How so?"

"Well, I was very up and down at your age. And I always overthought things."

"I wouldn't consider myself stable."

Hannah looked over the edge at the end of the hallway. Past a slope of rock going downwards, the pit certainly looked bottomless. She couldn't see an arm's length under a thick veil of pure darkness. Another door identical to the first rested on the other side.

"Slide down and jump."

Hannah sprinted forward. At the last step, she tensed her whole body for a long leap.

The built up speed was more than enough. She flew in an arc and slammed into the stone door. It gave way to her momentum and kicked up dust as it flung open. Hannah covered her eyes after she landed.

"Oh. That was… impressive."

"It was nothing."

Hannah coughed and stood up. The room she landed in was a small chamber with rock walls.. Vines reached down from an opening in the cave wall. The sun shined right into the room, lighting up a smooth, white stone altar. A silvery ember danced on top of two short stairs.

Wigglytuff Helena appeared on Hannah's side again. She walked past her and into the light. Hannah stood by as she walked up the two steps.

"Someone else wanted to present it to you," Helena said. "I wanted to give it to you myself, but I couldn't say no."

A tan horn shaped like a drill rose over the altar from behind. Tears welled up in Hanna's eyes as they tensed from the light reflecting off of Rhydon's body. At the same time, the ember stretched and twisted on top of the altar. A long, square black staff formed.

"For just one moment," her mother said. "I wanted to tell you how proud I am. I wanted to give you what I couldn't in life: a direction for the wind to blow."

"Mom!"

Hannah ran. Her head stayed facing the ground as tears ran down the sides of her head. Her limbs crumbled as she drew near up the stairs. The Rhydon reached her arms down. The action gave Hannah a burst of energy to leap into her embrace. Past her stuttering breaths, she wasn't able to give much pressure. Her mother was: the same firm pressure she always used when she cried.

"Not just me," she whispered. "Someone else wanted to say how proud they were. Look."

Her mother rested her hands on her shoulders and turned Hannah around.

At the base of the altar, a Togekiss and Cinccino stood side by side. Cinccino had soft, green eyes and a delicate smile on her face. The Valorian royal blessing made the air around her feel warm. The Togekiss had sea blue eyes and the Veritan royal blessing. Feelings stirred up in her chest from it.

They walked up and stopped short of the altar's stairs. Hannah felt a small pressure on her back push her closer.

"There's so many things I want to tell you," Cinccino said. "I mean, so many things. I want to tell you that I loved to sing, too. I want to tell you that your father and I fell in love in the very place you grew up. I want to tell you everything from the moment I was born, but it all boils down to I love you and I am so proud of you."

"We were scared," Togekiss said. "I was scared about becoming a father, especially with everything that happened. But after you were born, my life became about you. And seeing you here now, I feel like my twenty two years lasted longer than an eternity. And I would die for loving you again and again."

Hannah jumped down and hugged each of them in one arm. She pulled her head back to take in her parents' faces again. She had to blink and rub away the tears building in her eyes to get a good look, then continued to hug them.

"We came to give you a proper send off," Cinccino said quietly. "You're going to become an explorer, right?"

"Oh, she is," Rhydon answered. "Her life will be a story right out of a fairy tale, isn't that right?"

"Yah," Hannah cried. "Yah, that's right. Right out of a fairy tale..."

"I'm sorry we couldn't stay for long," Cinccino said. "I'm sorry we couldn't be there to see your journey with our own eyes. But, you'll be able to tell us all about it someday, okay?"

"Okay…"

"It's time to take hold of the future," Rhydon said.

Hannah turned around. Her mother held the staff up in her arms. She bent down on one knee and presented it to her.

"We'll always be there for you," she promised. "Always."

"Always," Cinccino added.

"Always," Togekiss nodded.

"Thank you," Hannah said. "Thank you for being there."

Hannah turned back one last time.

Her parents' smiling faces were as bright as the sun, piercing out to the heavens. With a rock in her stomach, she turned her eyes back to the staff. The Rhydon's smile was calm like grass in the wind. Hannah engraved them into her memory in advance of every trial or struggle she would find. She lifted her paw and placed it on the staff.


The world vanished before her eyes, replaced by a familiar place. The sunset stretched on past the horizon. White clouds were hued yellow and red from the light. Under Cinccino Hannah's feet, a layer of water stretched out endlessly. Just like before, she could stand on it without falling through.

A small silver ember floated over the water a few paces ahead. It brightened and dimmed as a voice rang in the air.

"I haven't done right by you. I cannot fix my mistakes, therefore, I hereby pledge my service to you."

Hannah nodded. A cool breeze blew under her ears.

"The enemy," the voice said. "My memories of them are gone, but I remember their impact. They are a great manipulator. And someday, we will have to face their power again together."

"If we can see through it this time, we'll win," Hannah said. "This enemy doesn't sound so strong on their own."

"Oh, but I'm afraid they are. And you must continue to grow stronger as a warrior and an explorer if we ever hope to have a chance to defeat them."

"I'll be ready."


Hannah held onto the square black staff. As she held it up to the light, she noticed a silver lining that ran down the center.

The staff split in the center. As it did, the same engraved symbols appeared again along the rim.

The staff opened into an enormous, silver fan. After it unfurled, it broke apart into two separate fans. Hannah stared at the pulsing shades of silver going along its surface.

"Oh dear."

"What is it?" Hannah asked quietly.

"...I may have rigged the cave to explode after the weapon was taken."

"Just, why?"

"I wasn't of sound mind. I am so sorry."

"How did you even rig it to blow? This is a magic weapon, isn't it?"

"Well, it has a strong aura of energy around it. So when it's removed, some wires snap and a couple hundred blast seeds go off about a minute later."

"So how do I get out of here in forty-five seconds?"

"Join the fan back together, get on top, and just hold on!"

Hannah didn't know how to join it back together. When she brought the black rims of them close together, they pulled together like magnets. She set it on the ground and held on to the front edges as wind circled around her.

She was flung like a leaf in a hurricane. Hannah had never gone this fast in her life. Wind tore at the ends of her fur and tail on the way back over the slope. She lowered her eyes down to protect them from the wind. Her feet swayed back and forth as she made the turn after the hallway with arrows supposedly in its walls.

Out of the doors, all that was left was the twisting hallway ahead. A rumbling noise started deep in the cave. The constant push of wind behind her increased to the point Hananh figured she'd lose fur. She wound around the curves as the rumbling chased her down the corridor. The silver symbols on her left and right lost themselves to creeping flames. The orange and red light dripped into Hannah's visions on all sides.

"Going up!"

The fan stopped in the air, then shot up. Hannah's only two views were of flames shooting up below her and wind cutting at her back from above.

She shot out from the hole in the earth on a diagonal angle. The pillar of fire managed to poke out of it, but fell quickly. Hannah looked down to check in case of a forest fire, but the hole was surrounded with dark rocks.

The fan shot up over the trees as it slowed to a stop. It continued to ascend just over the gray rock pillars topped with moss and choked by vines that Hannah struggled to jump over. The gentle breeze already in the air cooled her down from the flames.

"Okay," Hannah mumbled. "Thanks for that. That was… swell."

"Yes, well, sorry about that. Although, you did look a mess even before my old stunt."

"I've been out here for days," she grumbled. "Of course I do. And you just burnt my edges."

"Then let's head for a village. Get yourself pulled together."

"I don't have money."

"Oh, the world hasn't changed all that much. As long as there are bad people, there'll always be bounty hunts and jobs to be done. Let's go to a town. I'll teach you to fly this on the way."

Hannah stole a last glance down, then faced up towards the gray-blue sky. She closed her eyes and saw her parents faces, clear as day.