"In a way, this is a bit weird," Dawn said, as they approached Lake Verity. "Because… well, I grew up in Twinleaf, which is not far away at all, and I've been to Lake Verity in the past – you know, to walk along the shore, or to swim, that kind of thing. But you're saying that the rumour about there being a legendary Pokémon there is true?"

"There's going to be at least three once we get there, right?" Latias asked.

"Yeah, that's true," Ash agreed. "Latias was pointing out that there's going to be several Legendary Pokémon once we get there, because of… all the Legendary Pokémon with our group."

Cynthia nodded.

"True," she said. "But to answer Dawn's question… it's not something we can say, that the rumour is true. Not yet. But there's plenty of evidence that a Legendary Pokémon is associated with Lake Verity, and that Pokémon specifically is Mesprit."

She rummaged in her pockets, and got out a notebook before flipping through to a particular page. "There are three lakes in Sinnoh which have been the foci of persistent rumours about spirits, or ghosts, appearing to trainers – going back centuries, in fact. Lakes Verity, Valor and Acuity."

"I think I've heard of those other two," Dawn contributed. "I've never seen them, though."

"Not a problem," Cynthia assured her. "Now – by themselves, those might just have been rumours. However, there's additional evidence to consider."

"How much detail are you going to go into?" her Lucario asked. "I've seen you like this before."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to go into the textual criticism or anything," Cynthia told him. "The point is, in addition to those rumours, there's also mention in some accounts of a hero travelling to 'the Lakes' to gain boons from three Pokémon, and the lake names provide an additional clue."

"Hmm," Ash said. "The lake names… uh, so there's Verity, Valor and Acuity. And Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf are, Knowledge, Emotion and Willpower, that's what Rayquaza said. I guess Valor is willpower?"

"Good," Cynthia confirmed. "Yes. I know that Verity could apply to either of the others, but Acuity means… intelligence, or being able to understand things quickly. And there's an old poem from an unknown but ancient source which refers to a Pokémon that shows itself at Lake Acuity."

Cynthia flicked over another page. "Well, specifically it's a lake in alabaster lands of ice, brimming over with rich acuity. But it refers to that Pokémon wiping the memories of someone who does not satisfy them."

Ash winced. "That… doesn't sound nice."

"It is a poem," Cynthia pointed out. "We'd be silly to trust it as a character reference, but knowledge and memory are closely connected enough that I'm fairly sure it's Uxie connected with Lake Acuity. And Lake Valor is the most obvious one and connected with Azelf, which leaves Mesprit and Lake Verity."

"That's really impressive," Dawn said, amazed. "I guess I never thought about how people actually put together that kind of thing, before… it's always just, uh, people say. But you don't hear so much about why people say it."

"That's a lot of what being a historian is," Cynthia said. "Tracing things back to where they started… and sometimes, in a very annoying way, it turns out you can't trace things back as far as they say they go."

"This is going to be about the Tiffany thing, isn't it?" Lucario asked.

"Yes, it is about the Tiffany thing," Cynthia replied. "It wasn't going to be, but now you reminded me, you rascal… Ash, Dawn, if you learn one lesson from a historian, make it this. Label any additions you make when copying out and translating ancient texts, and make it clear they are not original! Unidentified interpolations are the worst."

Ash was about to ask what the Tiffany thing could possibly be, but then they went through a screen of trees and reached the Verity lakefront.

"Wow," he said, instead. "That's… a beautiful place."

"Yeah," Dawn agreed. "There's always been something peaceful about it."

Lucario closed his eyes, then nodded solemnly.

"Can confirm," he said. "Is nice."

Cynthia stifled a snigger.

"So, Ash," she said. "By this point I think you qualify as an expert. What do you think about Verity?"

"It looks beautiful, but I think I said that," Ash admitted. "Uh… I don't know, really? With the Legendary Birds, it was disrupting their islands, but that was bad, and Lugia just showed up once enough damage had been done… Suicune just shows up every now and then… Celebi, I guess that one was always going to happen… Ho-Oh shows up every now and then too… Jirachi woke up when I was around, but that was because he wakes up every thousand years anyway…"

"What about Uncle Rayquaza?" Koraidon checked.

"He didn't live at LaRousse," Ash said. "And, Manaphy I guess came to Samiya, but he didn't start there… this is actually really tricky."

"That's all right, we're not in a hurry," Cynthia told him. "Feel free to give it some time to see if something comes to mind."

"So… do you think there's any good advice for if I want to do Contests?" Dawn asked. "I don't think there's anyone else I could ask who's actually taken part in one, after all."

"Hmm," Ash replied, thinking.

They'd decided to have lunch by Lake Verity, and Cynthia had got out some cooking supplies before spending about ten minutes deciding which of her options to actually make.

Fortunately that had been resolved, and the smell of heating food was in the air as Mew skimmed low over Lake Verity.

They trailed their paw in the water, leaving little ripples, then jumped into the air with a squeak as a Seaking came up to see what all the fuss was about.

"I guess it's about… well, it's like battling because you're working together," he began. "But the way it's different… it can be really similar, but the different side of things is when you're trying to look good, and show you can do special things with the moves."

Dawn nodded. "That… yeah, that makes sense," she decided, as Mew bobbed closer to the water again to inspect the Seaking and the Seaking inspected Mew in turn. "I was hoping there'd be a quick way to get lots better, but I guess if there was one then everyone would do it anyway."

"What did lead to you being interested in Contests, anyway?" Ash asked, then. "May wasn't sure what she was going to do, at first, but you know exactly what you're after."

"Good question," Pikachu said. "I know you knew you wanted to challenge the League, Ash…"

Dawn looked over her shoulder, towards Twinleaf, then gave a sharp nod. "It's partly because of my mom," she said. "Mom was a Coordinator, so I was always going to be sort of… pointed in that direction? But at the same time, the idea of working with my Pokémon to put on a show is really interesting to me."

She spread her hands. "And – it's just, being able to do something so amazing as that, to push how far you can take a Pokémon move, or what a Pokémon can do? Like with that diamond move that May's Pikachu did at the Kanto Grand Festival, that was beautiful and it's a move I'd never seen before but you could see how much effort had gone into it, just from how precisely it was done!"

Then there was a ker-sploosh sound from out in the lake.

"What was that?" Ash asked, looking up and seeing some big ripples spreading across the lake.

"I don't know, dad," Mew replied, glancing back at Ash. "There was this big splash over by the island, but I didn't do it… I didn't see what did."

What are you doing here? a mental voice asked, as a dripping wet Pokémon with two long tails emerged from the water. What is even going on?

"Hmm," Ash said, then decided to make a guess. "Are you Mesprit? If you are, then hi, I think I'm your youngest brother!"

I have so many questions and I somehow don't think Uxie will know the answer, the Pokémon sighed, shaking themselves off and sending water droplets spattering over the surface of Lake Verity. I sensed someone whose emotions spoke to true passion, came out to look while invisible, and… what.

"Oh, yeah, you don't want to be surprised while flying and invisible," Latias said. "Made that mistake a few times back where I grew up."

Okay, so… you're the son of the Creator, Mesprit said, pointing a tail at Ash. And she is the current Champion of the region.

Cynthia nodded confirmation.

And you are… Mesprit went on. Just… Dawn?

"I think so?" Dawn replied, a bit confused. "You sound like that's weird. Why is that weird?"

Because I am fairly sure I know you, Mesprit answered. But then, I have not known many humans, so it could be a coincidence.

"How many humans have you known?" Cynthia asked. "Are you willing to share any information about them? Or about the past in general?"

She held up a plate. "You can have your choice of pastry, either way."

"Is this so you don't have to pick which of those you're going to have?" Lucario asked.

"Shut up, also yes," Cynthia answered.

Mesprit giggled, then took a Bluk strudel and began nibbling on it.

I've always been drawn to people with strong emotions, who really feel passion about something, she replied. And – there's been a few humans over the years. Most of the ones from a long time ago were of the Celestica people, and then after that-

"The Celestica?" Cynthia asked. "As in, Celestic Town?"

Probably? Mesprit guessed, shrugging. I'm not the knowledge one, you'd have to ask Uxie.

"Actually, uh… about that?" Ash tried. "Because, so far I made Koraidon by mistake and Miraidon deliberately, and Mew is sort of different, but they weren't really made to do anything. Or, Miraidon was to help save Rayquaza in one specific way, but apart from that they weren't… I was kind of wondering how it works for you, and for Uxie and Azelf. Rayquaza protects the world, and Kyogre made the seas, that kind of thing."

Mesprit slowed in her nibbling, blinking a few times.

Wow, you really like the hard questions, don't you? she said. I guess… I don't really know how it works for the other sets of – of our siblings, but for us Lake Guardians…

She paused, thinking. I think the exact wording was… you have been created to Be, not to Do. So there are things we do that help, that are a good idea, but it doesn't really matter if they go wrong sometimes.

"To be, not to do…" Mew said. "I like that."

"So why me?" Dawn asked.

Why anything? Mesprit replied. I don't know the answer yet, but it felt right.

AN:

It's not quite "long lost" family members… short found, perhaps?