.

step three

Don't Seek Further Endangerment

Sobek shoved Daved off him. "Come on, don't tell me you can't even remember how to run." He hopped to his feet with a scowled.

David stopped on his back, wincing as he found the spines on his back weren't exactly flexible. At least the grass cushioned them a little bit. At least he was back in the sunlight again.

Wait a second—that's not right!

"Uh, Sobek?" David said, laughing nervously. "Aren't we, um, aren't we supposed to be underground?"

"We are underground." Sobek pulled David to his feet again.

"Then why can I see the sun?" The Cubone asked, pointing the clouds. They were actual clouds. He glanced around. "Wait—how are we back in the forest?" Surrounding them were dense trees with bushes filling the space beween trunks, the canopy leaves dancing in the wind. David and Sobek found themselves were in an empty clearing with a small path exiting it just off to their left. Just one. Behind them were more dense trees with brambles thick enough to make it impossible for the two small Pokémon to fight through. …they just rolled from there.

David flipped up his helmet, squinting as if it would give a different picture. It didn't. "Where is the entrance—Sobek, where's the entrance?!"

Sobek clamped David's mouth shut. "Easy. We're now in the Mystery Dungeon. This one seems to think it's above ground. It copied the forest up there, down here. That's not the sun, not really. It might look like it, it might feel like it, but it's not. It's the Dungeon Curse doing it. We're actually in a cave, in that fissure. Below ground, not above it. You get me?"

"Uhd ow oo ee it oot?"

"We get out by going through it," Sobek nodded to the path out of the clearing, flipping David's helmet back down before dropping his hands. "Don't worry about it right now. Just don't get the locals' attention."

David lifted the helmet back up and he looked around. "…and if we do?"

Sobek laughed quietly. "This is still Tiny Woods! We really shouldn't have that much of a problem." He glanced away. "Really, Butterfree shouldn't have had this much trouble on her own. She's fully evolved. She doesn't have to worry about a wimpy Pidgey." He shook his head. "Come on. You go first."

David flinched, the skull falling back down from the movement. "But I don't—"

Sobek pushed David ahead, the Cubone digging his heels only to skid along the grass. "You get to lead so you don't trip into me. If we run into anything, get out of the way let me take care of it." Sobek grinned, taking a step back into a fighting stance, claws and fangs gleaming in the not-sunlight. "I might be a little rusty, but this is still Tiny Woods." David just turned and gave him a flat glare. Sobek scowled with a roll of his eyes. "…fine, fine, let's go."

David glanced back to the path out of the clearing, rolling his shoulders before fidgeting with his helmet. After a minute, he nodded and started out.

The Dungeon looked a lot like the forest above them, the same skyscraper trees, same house-sized bushes, same flowers, same annoying nose-height grass. Except… except nothing felt right—and it wasn't just the claustrophobia from how small the path was with the dark forest around them. There was a slight breeze, sure. But the air itself smelled stale. The light that shined down from above only did so in the gaps between the leaves, casting the ground in ripples of dark shadow and the sky above a webwork of blue between the pitch-black shapes of the leaves. Sobek had said that it was all an illusion, and yet it was hard for David to keep in mind that the grass he was fighting their way through wasn't actually there.

So what, exactly, were they pushing aside if it wasn't really grass?

David plucked a blade and fidgeted with it, tearing off little segments of illusion and tossing them aside. The sharp little squeaks of the tears and the feel of the fibers were unnervingly real.

"Breadcrumbing isn't exactly going to work here," Sobek muttered. "Keep track of what goes where without relying on landmarks."

"Not breadcrumbing, just terrified," David mumbled back.

Sobek laughed softly. "This is just Tiny Woods! Kids come out here to play and fight the wilds behind their parents' backs. Any Pokémon in here had to have come the same way we did, through the fissure."

"So why don't they find the way out—there is a way out right?"

"There is a way out."

"Okay, so where is it?"

"We need to go as far as we can, to where the Dungeon stops."

"And then what? We just turn around and walk out?"

"Actually, yeah." David stopped and tossed a questioning glare over his shoulder. Sobek paused, watching David trying to find the best angle to look back with his right eye. "…getting out of Dungeons from an endpoint is far easier than getting to that endpoint. Just relax, David. We just need to keep walking. One foot in front of the other, you get me?"

David scoffed, his claws digging into his elbows a bit too much at first before he lessened his grip. But he did continue on. "...it's just hard to keep calm when you keep looking around like a Tauros is going to charge us out of nowhere."

"I'm keeping an eye on things."

"Stop bouncing then!"

"I'm trying to look over you. I let you lead because I thought you were a little bit shorter. How are you so tall for a Cubone anyway?"

"Look around me then!"

"It's kinda hard to look around that big head of yours."

"This was never about me tripping, was it?"

"It was too about you tripping! Mostly. About half of it."

David frowned. "There's another clearing up ahead."

"Yeah, it looks like the grass turns to dirt there," Sobek said with another hop.

"…so there's something big in there that's worn it down."

"This is a Mystery Dungeon, it doesn't work like that. …usually. There's a lot of things that Pokémon misunderstand about them—ohhhhhhhhhh." Sobek groaned and planted his face into his hands. "Of course. That's why the Butterfree sent us…."

David looked back, "So how do you know—"

"Dave—Pidgey!"

"Whaaaaaack!"

David flailed onto his back and the ball of feathers bounced back up into the air. Wings bust out and the Pidgey righted itself, the small brown bird's head tilting and eyes blinking as it regained its composure.

Seeing the blue crocodile but ignoring the teeth, it shrieked and charged and Sobek rushed forward. A quick twist of his foot spun himself over David. The bird rolled, pulling to the side only to find Sobek's tail spinning into it's path. It shrieked as it fell into the bushes.

"David, get up, it's not down yet. David?" Sobek glanced down to his comrade—the Pidgey rocketed out of the brush into his shoulder; Sobek skidded back with the hit and the Pidgey ricocheting off and past him, somersaulting once, twice before the wings flared out, the beak pitched, and righted itself at the very tips of the grass.

"Oh, don't—!"

It screeched, flapping hard. Dust plumed from the grasses, dense and stony, up and over Sobek and into his eyes.

He promptly stepped through the dust storm and grabbed the thing by the legs. It looked down and squawked once.

"Why is that the third thing every Pidgey does." Sobek sneered with glaring, narrowed eyes, dodging the wings as they flailed. A snap of the wrist pulled the bird through the air and its head directly into the nearest tree trunk. The wingbeats slowed down on the first strike, on the second the Pidgey fell limp. Unconscious.

"Auugh! Every. Single. Pidgey!...David?"

"…I'm good," the Cubone moaned. He sneezed the dust away. "Hit the helmet. It just… it just didn't help my headache, that's all." He sat up, groaning and resettling his helm. "Did you get it?"

"Pidgey," Sobek repeated as he held it up at arm's length. David eyed the swelling of the bruise on its head, but Sobek had a very keen interest in its wings, pulling at them with his free hand. "The typical sort of Tiny Woods—puny little thing, probably a few weeks out of the nest. Doesn't have Dungeon Phage yet, but then again, fresh Dungeon. Hopefully it'll get kicked out by the curse in a little bit and have a happy life of waking me up way too early every day." He frowned, glancing at David. "Absolutely nothing a Butterfree should worry about. If a tail whip and a hit on the head knocks it out, a confusion would probably ground it for long after it wakes up, if that Butterfree wasn't completely insane!" He bluntly punted it into the brush with far too much enthusiasm. "Heck, any Pidgey fit to evolve don't mess with a Butterfree for that reason!"

David stood back up. He was trying to rub his head but didn't realize his skull was in the way. "Sorry, should have been paying attention. It kinda just ran into me."

"Could have gone worse, but that's what the helmet is for, yeah?" Sobek grinned and tapped the Cubone's head.

"I guess."

Snickering, Sobek walked past him to the edge of the clearing. "Okay, we're clear. Looks like we got two paths here. Both on the left. A fresh dungeon means... that closer one's probably a roundabout. If we're lucky—and we're not—Caterpie may just have been going in circles all this time." He looked back. His eyes were red and blinking harshly. "But you see? That's the one thing with Cubones. Take their little club away and they're a bit awkward in a fight. No offense."

"Well, can you teach me then?" David said, catching up and matching stride as they crossed the clearing. "I mean, how do you do that? What you just did?"

Sobek sighed, finally relenting to rub his eyes. "Unbelievable."

"Huh?"

"…that was really simple stuff, instinct really." Sobek blinked harshly. "Hate. Pidgeys. I hate them so much—how do they always find the loose soil to kick up? Gah…!" He shook his head, "Look, all of that was—Wurmple." He pointed to their left. A red and white caterpillar crawled along the ground, unaware of the two."

David looked around. The clearing was empty a moment ago, but there it was, smack dab in the middle. "Where did it come from?"

Sobek shook his head. "No idea, it's just something the dungeon does. Or it was hiding in the brush from the Pidgey and decided to make a break for it." He glanced at David. "Don't just stand there. Go get it!"

"What?"

"It's a Wurmple. A Wurmple! It's not like it's a Weedle. The most it can do is spit silk at you. Wait, on second thought— no, you're ground-type, you'd still have no problems against poison. Go on. Preferably before it notices us." The Cubone swallowed nervously. "David, I realize you don't have your club, but seriously? If you can't fight then you are one sorry Cubone." David blinked, Sobek rolled his eyes. "Alright. Listen. Just don't think too much on it, do what feels right!"

David looked back at the Wurmple as it slowly marched across forest floor. Sobek nudged him forward, David slapped his hands away. Sobek shoved him. "David. You got this. Just give it a shot."

He glanced at Sobek. The Totodile was giving him a confident grin and nod. David frowned back, but still… he rolled his shoulders. He took a breath.

He charged.

Halfway there, he shouted a war cry.

The Wurmple turned. Confusion glossed over it quickly before it shot a burst of silk towards the Cubone. David hopped over it, then sidestepped the next—but it tagged him! The silk caught his tail, spinning him slightly as his heel hit the ground and he stumbled! But he was almost there! He was just about at it! The Wurmple reared back—David could hear its chitin expand as it readied to shoot him point-blank but David kicked it!

He sunk all his momentum into his foot and off it went, a silk comet, flying back into the brush, clipping a tree, bouncing off a branch, crashing into the bushes!

"HAH!" David pumped his fist into the air and turned back to Sobek. He did it! He beat the Wurmple! He had won! "How was that!?"

Sobek's face was in his hands. "First instinct is to kick it." He laughed. "First instinct is to kick it—why did you kick it?! All that did was send it flying! Pointy Claws! Pointy Claws! Slash it! Or slam it with your tail, just make sure you know you knocked it out! For their own sake, yeah?"

"You mean ours."

"Ehh, that too. Mystery Dungeons are weird," Sobek shrugged. "The curse kicks unconscious wilds out somewhere near the exit or something like that. That Pidgey? Kicked it into the brush so nothing messes with it until the dungeon kicks it out. It's an out of sight, out of mind thing, I don't understand it. But it's like that Wurmple appearing, but the other way around." Sobek shook his head. "Ah, nevermind. So long as it's not our problem anymore, we're good."

David's pride deflated slightly and jogged back over to Sobek. He froze. "…wait, what if the Caterpie's somewhere in the brush? I mean, just because we can't, doesn't mean he... couldn't?"

Sobek put a hand up to stop him before pulling the silk off David's tail. It stretched and snapped into dozens of sticky little strands. The Totodile seethed as he looked it over. "Here's the thing. There's only about a few steps of woods, and then the cave wall, even if it looks like it goes forever. That Pidgey bounced off a wall of nothing when I kicked it in, serves it right." Sobek tilted his head in thought and threw aside the silk to rub his temple.

"Um."

"Right. Sticky silk. ...long story short, Caterpie wouldn't go into the brush since there's a myth that the walls of a Mystery Dungeon eat Pokémon. Same reason Butterfree probably didn't want to come in here. Some motherly love, huh?"

"…that sounds kinda silly."

"Well," Sobek paused, mulling it over in his head. "They're not that far off. Except it's not the walls that eats Pokémon. Come on, let's see what's down this path. I need a tree branch or something to get my hand free."

"Walls that eat…?" It took a moment for David trot along. "Right. You're messing with me. Got it."

"You know what, we're actually doing good here," Sobek nodded. "We've got a pecha berry for when I inevitably get poisoned and two oran—one oran berry." He glared at David.

"What? You said it heals," David shrugged, mouth half-full from the berry. He almost looked happy munching on the thing. If it wasn't for the undertones of terror in his voice and eyes under the brave face he was putting on, he almost seemed content. Sobek eased off. "It stopped the headache. 'sides, I can't remember the last time I ate." David paused, eyes lighting up as he laughed at his accidental joke. "You never told me how these got in here anyway. I mean, this place just formed right?"

"Some wilds probably brought it in with them, they carry things sometimes," Sobek sighed and rolled another unconscious Pidgey away with a foot. "For a hole in the ground, not sure why there's so many Pidgey. Wurmples? Yeah. Birds? No. …kinda just wish we had a pack to hold all this in and not carry it around by hand." He tossed the other Oran berry to David. "Don't eat that one. Not until we need it."

David fumbled the catch and jugged it through the air before it settled in his arms. "…I could just carry it all in my helmet. Find some vines, tie it in such a way to keep it against my back, and it's a pack, right?"

"Yeah, but—" Sobek scowled. He almost said something, then cut himself off as they saw another small band of red marching across the forest floor. "Okay, David. Wurmple." David nodded and charged. "This time, spin, jump, slam your tail down on it, and push against it to roll back onto your feet. Without landing on it thissssss…"

"Haaaalp…."

Sobek grimaced, seething to himself as he marched up to the Wurmple. In all respect, it looked quite happy with itself, perched atop what looked more like a poorly evolved Silcoon than a Cubone. Sobek glared at it and snarled—he received his maw encased in silk and the smug squeaking of an overconfident caterpillar. He snorted, eyes narrowing as he slashed the caterpillar with his claws and let it run off, leaving a trail of blood behind.

With some effort, Sobek pulled the silk off his face and set about freeing David.

"You know, you did kinda well with that first one even if you woke everyone up."

"I wasn't expecting it to shoot seven times its body weight in string shot!" David pushed himself up and pushed against his helmet. It was stuck. "Nnngggget. Off. Get! Off! Getoffgetoffgetoff!"

"Hey, easy. Let me help, I've the sharper claws here—stop! Squirming! ...there. Okay. On three. One, two, three!"

pop

Sobek held the skull out plainly, and David yanked it out of the Totodile's hands. There wasn't a single spot where it wasn't covered in silk. He pushed Sobek away as the Totodile pulled at the strands on David's shoulder. It all came off in clumps, and David realized there wasn't a single spot on him where he could see his scales. "Seriously. It's a tiny little thing. Where did all this come from!?"

"We're not that much larger than it you know," Sobek started but trailed off as he looked around the clearing they were resting in at the moment. It looked like all the others, trees and bramble bushes forming the walls, a path in, a path out, tall grass and a worn dirt section. But it was just them for the moment. That faint blood trail of the Wurmple lead back to the path the two had just came in.

"Yeah but…." David faded off as he struggled with a glob over the right eyehole. He put the helmet on the ground, planted a foot on it, and pulled again. It didn't budge. "I didn't… think that... the string shot... wouldn't have been... this tough! I mean, it's not a Spinarak. Come on! You... stupid... thing! RaaaaaaaaAAAAAH!" His grip slipped and he fell over backwards. He rocked back onto his feet. He snorted.

Sobek looked back to David. "What does it not being a Spinarak have to do with anything? Its web is pretty much the same thing. I think."

"Yeah, but—oh, forget this!" David scowled and kicked his helmet to the side.

"…uh, David? You're going to need that. …David. You're a Cubone, not a Kangaskhan. You're going to need that."

"I don't have a club, might as well go for not having the set."

"David."

"Fine, fine, fine…." He stormed over to where it rolled and grabbed it. "There is silk over the eye. I can't see." He shoved it into Sobek's arms. The Totodile held up a claw, and stabbed it into the silk. A vertical cut was made, small clumps torn out where they could but the rest of the strands had to be pushed aside and secured with more sticky silk.

"There," Sobek set the helmet back on David's head, stepping back carefully as he met David's unenthused eyes. "Now, stop taking it off. When we get out, stand in the sun—the actual sun—for a little while and the web crumbles off." David scowled and walked away, grumbling, resettling his helmet. "…are you okay, David?"

"Am I okay?" The Cubone glared over his shoulder. "I've lost my memory, and before I could even come to terms with that, I was held at poison point to rescue a kid in a Mystery Dungeon—which I know nothing about. I don't think I ever was a fighter—"

"All Cubones are fighters. Otherwise they'd be Kangaskhans. You just don't have your club—"

"Because you literally dragged me away from back there before I could even get my bearings! And now I'm covered in bug-spit! Do you think I'm okay!?" David shook his head as he paced away again. His scowl was louder than he'd liked. "I'm just… I need a second to just…."

"I get where you're coming from, David, I really do," Sobek said carefully, dashing up to walk in step beside him. "And this sucks. I really don't want to be doing this either. But you're doing a good job right now—amazing, all things considered, and we've come in quite a ways. I actually didn't think it would be this deep. There isn't any way we could have missed him, there's only been one or two branching pathways so far and even then it we would have caught him if he wandered back the way we came."

"Ehhhh Sobek…?" David said in a vary wary voice. Sobek turned to see him ten feet back, looking down at his foot a blank look forced onto his face. "Remind me. How afraid should I be of a Sunkern?"

"The weakest grass-type? Not very. Just grab it by the leaves and kick it away. You're good at kicking."

"Okay." David nodded. "Okay." He nodded again. "How about four Sunkerns?"

Sobek hesitated. "How many are there, really?"

"About seven. I'm dead serious. And they're waking up."

"Okay. This is what we do."

"Woah-woah-woah-woah!" David stumbled with the double-take, "There he is—Sobek, that way!" Sobek blindly crashed into him and the two rolled down the fork towards the little green caterpillar. When everything stopped spinning, David found himself looking into the black eyes of an upside down Caterpie. He sighed and pointed, shaking a silk encrusted claw at him. "Hey. How'zit going? Your mom's losing it, you know that?" He looked to the Totodile on top of him. "Okay. We found him. Now what?"

"Give me a second, now I have the headache," Sobek grumbled as he shook the stars away and looked around. "Dead end."

"Aw, great."

"But, do you feel that? Or don'tfeel that? The sunshine? This is the deepest point in the dungeon. Hah-hahaaaa! We just need to go right back that way and we'll be out in no time!" He rolled off David and pulled him up, then stooped down to the Caterpie. "Your mother sent us to rescue you. Are you okay? You don't look hurt."

"…I'm fine," the Caterpie said quietly. The little guy shrunk away from the two, antenna drooping.

"Honestly," Sobek grinned warmly. "I'm amazed you got this far in—without a scratch too!" He glanced to the giant pile of silk and the Cubone somewhere underneath. "He did better than us, eh, David?" The Cubone was absorbed in squinting up the hill they had rolled down. Sobek elbowed him, muttering, "Kid's freaked out as you were—"

"Still am, just ignoring that for now because there are killer seeds on our tails."

"Just help me calm him down."

"Yeah," David said quickly, glancing back to Caterpie. "A… natural born explorer, I guess."

"Really?" Caterpie perked up, a sparkle forming in his eye. "C-could I join your team? Can I?"

David pivoted his glare to Sobek. The Totodile blinked, recoiling slightly. He glanced between David and the Caterpie and swallowed the first words he had. "Uh, well—"

"Sobek!" David hissed, pulling the Totodile away, "They caught up!" He pointed to the crest of the hill. Three Sunkerns started rolling down the hill, with a Pidgey darting down over them. "Why is the bird coming for us when those Sunkerns are the one that woke it up? Hey! Eat them! Not us!"

"Nevermind that—where are the other six?" Sobek charged forward to meet the Pidgey and raked his claws through the air. It dodged, twisting over him and wobbling in the air. David hopped left and intercepted it before it could recover and spun. It was a clumsy tail-whip, but it connected well-enough, glancing off the right wing of the bird and deflecting it enough to crash into a tree trunk behind the group. The bird rolled itself back onto its feet—David promptly punted it back into the trees. Somewhere from the thicket came an unpleasant thud.

"Pidgey's dealt with!"

"Easy bit's done," Sobek grimaced and pointed to the top of the hill. "We need to get back up there! This is a Deep Point! Somewhere along that hill, we'll get kicked out of the dungeon. There's just five Sunkerns in our way now." He grimaced. "I was expecting one or two, but five? ...hey David, you've all that silkspit on you. Can Sunkern even hurt you through that?"

"I've no idea, don't look at—!" David blinked. "No. Wait. Do look at me! Caterpie!"

"Me?" Caterpie recoiled.

"You can spit silk! String-shot them, tangle them up! We'll just book it! Not even fight them!"

"Sunkern are Sunkern," Sobek said, glancing back to the two, "But Sunkern are still grass-type and even they can, you know, suck our life away? We'll go down easy if we're not careful. Either way, heh, here they are."

Three teeny, tiny yellow and black seeds, each with a little sprout growing out of their tops, rolled into the clearing and hopped up, their happy eyes glossed over with a dull, deathly sheen while their smiling mouths oozed hunger pains to the two the pack was actively hunting.

Hunting. These aren't Poochyenas, they're Sunkerns!

"Don't these things try not to move to conserve energy to evolve?" David asked as he and Sobek took a step back.

"Well, if you've been trying to feed of a sun that isn't really there and two Pokémon appear that you can drain a lotta life—"

"You are not helping!" David shook his head. "Okay, Caterpie. They want us, not you. Wait for the other two to get in range, then stick it to them. Last thing we want is for them to ingrain themselves. At least not right at the exit. Okay?"

Caterpie nodded.

One by one, the three little seeds bounced towards the two lizards while the caterpillar edged around them. Why are they all just so happy?!

"David," Sobek whispered. "Not a single word of this when we get out of here. We'll be the laughingstock for miles around if anyone finds out we ran from a Sunkern. Doesn't matter how many."

"Agreed. What about the kid?"

"The kid who's been dodging Pidgey since he got in here? He understands completely."

The other two Sunkern entered the clearing.

"Now! Now!"

Caterpie flinched and blasted a solid line of web from one group to the other, almost on reflex. The shine in the little seeds' eyes completely falling away to a flat black and their mouths continued to smile in a wordless rage as their tiny little hops couldn't free them from the small strand that pinned them to the ground.

"Gogogogogo!" The two ran around the Sunkern and, between the two of them, picked up Caterpie and booked it up the hill, giving the other group a large berth.

A shriek cried through the air and another Pidgey rocketed down the slope.

"Not now!" Sobek chucked his berry at the bird, hitting it and knocking it off track. "We're almost there, keep go—"

The forest fell away to rock walls in the matter of steps—David skidded his shoulder into a wall, Sobek half-crashed into him. Sighing and sitting his head against the stone, David let Caterpie down from his arm, as did Sobek behind him.

It was dark, it smelt like dirt and dust, and slowly, the Cubone laughed.

"Hey, Sobek," He turned. "We got 'im!"

"Yeah!" the Totodile scoffed, grinning back. "We did…! Let's get out of here before that Pidgey comes busting through—it's not going to be very happy. And," He looked down to Caterpie, "Your Mum's been worried sick over you."

Caterpie shrunk slightly, glancing down towards the ground with drooping antennae.

"RAAAAWK!"

David and Sobek looked at each other, "Pidgey!" They jumped down as the brown blur blasted out of the dungeon. It crashed straight into the wall, with a sickening thud, slowly sliding down it.

David seethed. "Oof." He sat back up and glanced to Sobek, "Leave it?"

"It's definitely not going anywhere, and those Sunkern ain't making it up that hill anytime soon. So it officially ain't our problem." Sobek took a deep breath. "Nerve-wracking stuff though. Nerve-wracking stuff. …alright kid, let's get you back to your mum." Back to David, "I say we get away from this place. In fact, I say we don't come back to this place."

"Yeah. Yeah, give me a moment. I'll catch up in a few seconds."

"What's wrong?" Caterpie spoke up. "Is-is he okay?"

"He's had rough day, a little worse than yours," Sobek said, motioning for Caterpie to move ahead of him. "He just needs a minute to sit." He looked to David, "But if you're not caught up by then I'm not coming back for you."

The two disappeared around the corner and David slumped against the wall, sighing quietly and closing his eyes, if only for a second. Rolling his head and wincing as his neck cracked a few times, he lolled it onto his shoulder and looked at the Pidgey next to him.

He was half expecting to see its beak broken, but it was lying on its back. He guessed it tried to stop and slammed into the wall chest-first. It was definitely unconscious, and probably had a massive bruise under all those feathers.

David stood up, slowly this time, pushing off against the wall and into the half-crouched stance, gently rocking back and forth on his feet as he stood. Breathing in, he stretched his back, then his tail.

…right. The tail.

He looked back at it. He moved it right. He moved it left. Up. Down. Next to him to pull off what remained of the silk. That swing at the Pidgey backed there managed to break away most of it.

It felt… awkward and clumsy. But he did actually managed to pull it off. He actually did manage to hit the Pidgey without even trying.

Huh.

Maybe Sobek was right, maybe he was just thinking about it too much.

He reached down to pull off the silk only to realize that he still had that Oran Berry they had found. He had been holding onto it for dear life for that entire mad dash through the dungeon. Granted, it and his hand was encased in silk and once that was pried off he found his claws had dug into the skin. But, leaky juices or not, it was still a berry and still in his hand.

He looked back to the Pidgey. It shook slightly each time it breathed, clearly hurting from its impact with the wall.

"Hey, Dave?" Sobek's voice echoed down. "Ya still there?"

David glanced between the tunnel and the Pidgey and the berry.

"…yeah, I'm coming."

David ran down the fissure corridor, biting into the berry and quickly finishing it off before Sobek and Caterpie came into view.

David needed it far more than that Pidgey did.