Cinccino Hannah walked forward. The starry sky surrounded her like a globe. It could be some sort of illusion, but it didn't change that they were taking too long for her to find.
Just ahead, a Scizor, Grumpig, Gabite, Thwackey, and Rhydon were sprawled out on the ground. Hannah ran ahead and glanced at all of them, but she ran straight for Rhydon.
Hannah came to Rhydon's side. She laid on her back with her eyes closed. Hannah's feet slowed and grew heavy as she drew near. Her spiral, amber horn had been broken off.
"Mom," Hannah said. "Mom. Mom."
Rhydon didn't reply. Hannah prodded Rhydon's stomach.
"Mom," Hannah said. "Get up. Mom."
Hannah stayed calm. She for her mother's wrist and felt for a pulse, any sort of movement. There was none.
A wave settled in. Hannah fell to the ground shaking and crying. It overpowered and shoved her to the floor. Her unheard screams were separate from her thoughts as they pulled together.
When Hannah stopped crying, she stood up. She looked around at the others who were gone. All she could think about was her mother. One final time, she pushed on Rhydon's side.
"Mo... M..." Hannah muttered.
Hannah needed to do something. Something had to have made this happen. The very thought sent her heartbeat into a hot frenzy.
It could be her fault. If Hannah went with her mother, maybe she could've caught on to something before it was too late.
There wasn't time to think about it. She had to move faster for a better chance to catch whoever did this.
Cinccino Hannah took a walk around and checked all of the gruesome wounds, only through her peripheral vision. She didn't know them very well, but just took in their faces and nothing else.
That Girafarig was missing.
Martha Verity. She could've fallen into the void just past the ground. Hannah didn't even know what it was.
Hannah reached out with her feelings. She could feel, or imagine, her breathing.
Martha. Hannah had a feeling she was still alive, and she'd find her.
The energy in the Keldeo's horn sticking out of her bag lurched forward. Hannah gripped it firm. Something waited for her ahead.
________________________________________________________________________________
The path led her upwards towards a maze of starlight. Going back without her mother was pointless, so she wasn't affected by the thin stone path and void of stars below it.
After a long hike up, a massive rock sat at the end. It looked like a speck at first, but grew exponentially as she drew near. The incline went flat again once she reached the peak of the stone hill.
A dark, stone arena opened itself up in front of Hannah. Dark, gray stones scattered across the ground. Remnants of stone pillars sat in chunks at the edges.
A massive, white body shaped like a swan stood in the center. Its blue eyes appeared from under a sharp, blue mask, separated in two parts of its face. Wings like hands stretched out from the side of his body.
Keldeo's horn lurched again, straight in the pokemon's direction. If it could move by itself, it would've flown right at its forehead. Hannah studied its large form.
It matched what her mother drew in the dirt: Lugia. As it turned, something fell and clanked against the floor.
An amber horn stared back at Hannah. She gazed at it thoughtlessly. A short, thin trail of red spiral down to its tip. Once she finished thinking, she tensed. She pulled out Keldeo's horn.
Cinccino Hannah lunged forward and cleared the distance in five bounds. Lugia exhaled a burning spiral of sharp air. Stinging cuts coated her body as the force pushed back against her, but she charged through. She kept Keldeo's horn in front of her to take some of the attack.
Hannah slashed at Lugia's face. Its head moved to the side with her swipe, trying to dodge, but she felt the edge of the horn quake down through her arm.
Lugia turned its face back down on her. She had drawn a new red slash mark between its eyes. The mask protected the rest of its face.
Hannah ran forward with a new target; Lugia's pale blue stomach. Keldeo's horn reacted with her body's energy with a wave of heat. Lugia swung an arm down to block her swing.
Hannah's strike cut clean through. To keep it from moving away, Hannah extended her arm and stabbed Lugia's foot. She put both of her arms on it and ripped to the side.
Lugia's back curved down as it keeled over. Hannah took the opportunity. She swung the horn with both arms at its belly in wide, circular slashes. After the flurry, Hannah finished the attack with a sideways swing, rotating her whole body and swinging from over her shoulder.
Lugia lost balance and collapsed on the ground. Hannah jumped out of its way as it fell. With a moment to breathe, she realized its pained screeches had been piercing her ears. It hissed and seethed at her, flailing however it could. She steeled herself.
Hannah circled around to Lugia's head. It began charging up energy in its gaping maw point at her face. She slashed across its head.
Black dust plumed out and rose into the air. She backed up, scrambling off the ground when she tripped from the surprise.
A strange noise coming from up ahead through the cloud: a rhythmic smacking sound. When the dust finished vanishing in the air, Hannah could see a Riolu clapping at a slow place with a low hanging smile.
Just next to him was the Girafarig Martha. She stared blankly.
Cinccino Hannah felt heavy using so much energy. She took the moment as an opportunity to get her strength back.
"It was already weak from the Twilight Hero's efforts," Martha explained.
"What... happened?" Hannah asked between deep breaths.
"I did it. And it was boring. Sheesh, slow."
Martha's tail swung back and forth, then settled.
"Ugh, really? You're here?"
Riolu's words caught Hannah's attention. She glanced behind herself.
She didn't know how she didn't hear him: a tall Lopunny with hazel eyes taking proud, quiet steps up to her side. Hannah forced herself to her feet again, but Lopunny didn't react to her facing him with the horn pointing up towards his face in her paws. He kept staring forward at the Riolu with a flat mouth. He only glanced at her.
"This place is called the Haven Of Light," Riolu explained. "Only us Pharaohs have the honor to see where the world will end. You should count yourself blessed."
"Hannah," said Lopunny, "lend me that horn for a bit. I'll handle him."
Keldeo's horn reacted to the voice. The torrent of energy inside pushed in Lopunny's direction, but didn't rip itself away from Hannah. Given the situation, she decided to listen.
Hannah walked forward and silently passed Lopunny the horn with the tip pointed down.
"How dare you?" Riolu demanded. "Using it against me? Of all people?"
Lopunny took steps forward. Riolu copied him. On one of Lopunny's steps, he jumped forward and tackled him.
The staggering force made Hannah flinch. They were out of sight, but the impacts sounded like crashing meteors.
Girafarig Martha's limbs were extended further apart under her body as she looked back at the Cinccino. She brought her legs straight under her again.
"But what did you do?" Hannah asked. "What's going on?"
Martha rolled her eyes. "Let's hurry this along."
Martha's tail flicked in her direction. A hot pink Psybeam overtook most of her vision. Hannah dodged, and it flew past her chest.
Hannah switched her plan. She wasn't very good at long range attacks, so she'd have to start approaching. For every two steps forward she took, Martha took one back. She flung more Psybeams by flicking her tail, but the gap in skill became obvious; Hannah had the edge.
Hannah slowed down, walking step by step with her arms swinging stiff at her side. She leaned to the side to avoid every attack. Martha's steps back grew cluttered. Emotions started to flash through her eyes.
Hannah raised her fist and separated her feet. Martha's formed a green shield in front of her with Protect. Hannah clenched her first tighter. She made sure Martha had a clear view before she slammed it down.
The green shield scattered into disappearing glitter when she struck it. Unable to stand her ground Martha fell back and rolled across the floor.
"Oop, welp. Can't have that."
Hannah turned up to look at what was moving towards her, but it ended up wasting time. Riolu's foot landed on her forehead. Cinccino Hannah's back scraped against the ground after she fell.
Hannah tried to get up, but her vision of the night sky wobbled. She struggled to get her feet under her again.
Lopunny landed in front of her on one leg. He spun around to face forward as he put the rest of his wait on his other leg. He returned to his neutral stance with his arms raised and feet apart.
Hannah watched as Martha tried to catch her breath. She wanted to knock the answers out of her, but Riolu was in the way, and he hit hard. The stalemate hanging in the air between Lopunny and Riolu locked Hannah in place.
"Why are you doing this?" Hannah asked. "I don't understand what's going on... What did you do!?
"Your mother knew things, so I killed her," Martha said. "Who you are and why you have the Veritan blessing don't matter to me. It's not personal, so don't make it that way."
Riolu laughed. Girafarig Martha turned to him. Her mouth hung open.
"Oh, sorry," Riolu said. "But, uh, take it from me. This is kinda personal now."
"Why... are you laughing...?"
Hannah's hate seeped through her voice. Boiling tears were rolling down her cheeks, but she blinked them away.
"If you have anything important to you and you lost it, you'd feel the same way I do right now," she said. "Do you not get that?"
"What is that?" Martha asked. "You're seeing that?"
"Ah, damn," Riolu said.
Hannah pushed her feelings out of arms straight ahead. They took the form of wind, colored sky blue from energy in wild crescents and round shapes.
"Time to go," said Riolu.
"What are you-"
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Hannah must've passed out. The next thing she knew, she was lying flat on her stomach. Her head swam and her breathing heaved. She didn't remember how she fell down in the first place. Her limbs groaned with her when she pushed herself up. She looked up and ahead, swinging from side to side as she rose to her feet.
The Riolu and Girafarig were gone. Lopunny was still there, sitting on his knees a couple of paces away to her side. He looked at her with alert eyes.
"Where'd they go?" Hannah asked.
"Further in," Lopunny said. "But we can't follow. There's no way to."
"Are you lying to me?"
Lopunny's hazel eyes got a little smaller. His legs took positions a little further apart from each other.
"I know you're in pain," he said. "Trust me, I get it. But I'm not your enemy and I'm not lying to you."
"Then where are we?" Hannah asked.
"It's a place in twisted reality. It's called a Mystery Dungeon. You might have heard of them before."
"That old myth? A Mystery Dungeon?"
"Yeah."
Cinccino Hannah and Lopunny were circling each other. Hannah didn't realize it until now. Her feet paused, and he stopped in turn.
"So, what happened?" Hannah asked.
"Martha Verity," Lopunny said. "She was, well, bribed. She betrayed her family, and all of those soldiers. And..."
"By that Riolu?"
"Yes."
"And why are you here?"
"My name's Luke," Lopunny said firmly. "And I'm here to try and protect people from that power. So I want to make a deal with you."
"What deal?" asked Hannah.
"There's a way to keep pursuing them. Do you know what hibernation is?"
"Yes...?"
"I'll put you in hibernation, and then we could wait for them to come back out."
"When?" Hannah asked. "When will they come back out? And who was that Riolu? You'll have to answer more questions."
"There isn't time."
The ground shook a little. Hannah stayed solid on her feet, but stared at him with a little more focus.
"Once reality shifts here, I can't help you anymore," Luke said. "Look, I don't really know what's going to happen."
"Just help me get her," Hannah said. "I don't care about whatever happens."
"You need to be sure. This isn't just a normal deal. When you wake up, the whole world will be different."
The ground shook again. Hannah put her arms out to keep balance.
Everything was over. If Hannah went back now, she'd just go back to the woods. She'd probably die there. There was no reason not to go with whatever this stranger had in mind.
"I'm sure," Hannah said. "What do we need to do?"
"Follow me."
Lopunny took a gold ring off that had been hiding in the cream fur covering his right wrist. He flipped it off of his fingers in the air.
It grew like magic in front of Hannah's eyes. It started to hover in the air, just like the ring she saw coming here. The colors inside shifted like swirling painting, changing and flashing at random.
Luke nodded to Hannah, then turned around and hopped inside the colors. He didn't land on the ground on the other side of the ring.
Hannah didn't understand it, but she had already agreed. She walked forward, touching the edge with her arms first and putting her paw in. Cool air greeted her arm.
Hannah took one last look back at the path down. She put all of the will she had left in her arm, pulling herself forward.
________________________________________________________________________________
Riolu walked just ahead of the Girafarig Martha while they traveled through a dark void. Red gashes and bruises covered Martha from their near escape, but he didn't have a blue fur out of place.
"I never imagined the Veritan blessing would be so strong..."
"We have to do something. She's a disgrace."
Up, down, left and right, were all pure black. Martha got into a pattern of walking without knowing what she was even standing on. The silence had lingered for some time, and the voices in her head were echoing in the void.
"Focus your emotions away for right now. Try using your tail. Just put them all in there and hold them."
"Honey, that's not healthy."
"Where are we going, boy scout?" Martha asked with her tail.
"We're almost there," Riolu huffed.
"Who was that Lopunny?"
"Bad news. But you don't need to think about him. Just keep away from him for now, y'know?"
The pair continued through the silence. Riolu came to a stop, and the Girafarig stopped just behind him on his side.
"She can't be Queen."
"Honey, forget that right now. She needs help. This isn't normal."
"Forget it? You're running out of time to have another. You know what we have to do."
"Why do you want this power?" Riolu asked.
"Because I want justice," Martha said.
"That's what your parents claim they wanted all the time. What do you want this for?"
"Those 'parents' are whining cows. I'm going to show the world what a good leader is. Ever since I've been born, they told me it was my responsibility to make amends and apologize, and to hell with that. It's their fault we lost. They ran like bitches. It's important that our kind feels more towards hurt people. We nearly won, what the hell was wrong with them!? It's time for a clean slate."
"Is that enough resolve?" Riolu asked. "Enough to last a century or two? It's a long time, y'know."
"Yes," Martha answered.
Riolu gave a gentle smile to her.
"You'll be a good conqueror, Martha."
"Mutt."
Riolu continued to move ahead. Martha continued in pain, throwing up enough insults to last the whole time.