"Slash."

Metal sheened in the darkness of a chamber, slicing clean through a Galvantula. The insect silently fell to the ground, oozing a thick green blood over several other discarded insect corpses.

Metallic footsteps echoed through the dark, leading towards the chamber's exit. The light on the other side illuminated the silver, red, and black armor of a Bisharp, as well as the near-permanent scowl on his face, almost entirely stained with the green.

"Hmph, even when more show up than were scouted, it feels like dispatching these ferals gets easier and easier," the Bisharp, Zen, hummed. He flashed the green off his gauntlets, his scowl growing just a bit fiercer. "Good." He headed towards the exit; a tunnel with a dim yellow-green glow coming from it.

Solitude was one of the few things Zen ever indulged in, so after he first entered that stone door and found himself entirely alone, it was business as usual. Find and take care of Lee, find the exit, and never think about this day ever again. The others could at least manage to find the way out on their own, assuming they hadn't already, so they weren't a worry in his mind in the slightest...

For the first day.

Even then, he didn't give the others any mind until the fourth or fifth, and by then he found himself… preoccupied.

'I need to get stronger. Lee will regret making a fool out of me.' Zen clenched his fists tightly, growling. 'That wolf bastard dares think he is better than I am. He dared to warp my mind, to pin me against the Outlander, to make me into a goddamn joke…'

He stopped in the middle of the tunnel; a bioluminescent green mushroom blocking his path. It must've sprouted while he was fighting those ferals. With a fierce snarl, Zen smashed the fungus to pieces with a mighty punch. Chunks of 'shroom and a green fluid splattered on the walls and Zen's body.

"Damned waste of space," he spat, burning the fungus off his body with a blackened aura. The rest of the tunnel was lit up with similar mushrooms, but those seemed intelligent to not have tried to grow in Zen's path.

'I am being used here too, simply because these ingrates do not know who I am. Are these bodies not proof enough that they should fear me too?'

Further into the tunnel, past all the twists and turns, Zen reached his destination; a super-massive chamber that reached higher than even he could see. Mushrooms of vastly varying sizes and either purple or green in color illuminated the area, revealing the groups of large Parasect marching across its floors and walls. The largest of them came up to about Zen's waist, mushroom not included. With the mushrooms, most of these insects were just taller than him. The groups never exceeded six, were never less than two, and moved in a calculated and organized manner. It was impressive, to say the least.

It also helped Zen spot the odd one out, the one assigned to him. A goddamn Paras, with a cracked carapace, and lacking any mushrooms on its back.

Zen and Paras stared at each other, the latter quivering anxiously as it looked into Zen's eyes. The thing was about the size of Zen's head, and unlike every other creature in this mushroom hive, it was the only thing scared of him.

"Y-You beat them already?" Paras chittered nervously. Zen's glare sharpened and he took a step forward, and the insect cowered even more. "O-O-Of course! O-Obviously! How s-s-silly of me to e-even ask!" it squeaked, backing away.

"There were more than you told me, insect," Zen said coldly. "I was told twenty, and nearly double that amount tried to ambush me."

"D-Double?! A-Are you-" Paras stopped itself short, already feeling Zen's glare bearing down on it. "U-Uh, th-this is news to u-us, so-"

"Is it?" Zen growled, taking another step forward. "This is not the first time this has happened, Paras, and I have a feeling this will not be the last, either. I had hoped you defenseless cretins would at least have accurate scouting ability."

Paras lowered itself as close to the ground as possible. "I-I, w-we are s-s-sorry!" it cried with a whimper. "W-W-We should report this to the elder, i-i-immediately!"

"Is that an order?" Zen took another step, his dark aura flashing around his body momentarily.

"N-No! Of course not!" Paras yelped, scuttling back. "I-I would never!"

"...Hmph. Good." Zen exhaled and walked past the terrified bug type. "Follow, but I will not wait for you."

Paras didn't dare to hesitate, quickly scuttling behind Zen. "Y-Y-Yessir!"

Deep into the chamber, a vast mushroom forest welcomed Zen with open tendrils and a colorful mix of glows. Parasects walked by, paying no mind to Zen as he did to them. He eventually came upon a tunnel which, much unlike the rest of the chamber or the other tunnels, was pitch black, and had air so unbearably thick that Zen had to focus to keep himself from coughing and choking on any given breath.

Hardly a few steps into that tunnel did Zen come out on the other side, coming face to face with a gigantic Parasect, with an even larger mushroom on its back. Thick fungus tendrils connected from the mushroom to the insect underneath it and the walls around them both. Sensing Zen's presence, the giant Parasect's eyes let out a sickly white glow, and its pincers creaked and groaned as they parted.

"Greetings, Bisharp. You humble us with your volatile presence," Parasect greeted, its voice aged and gravelly. "How was your hunt, if you mind not us asking?"

Zen crossed his arms, a cold expression on his face. "Care to explain why several of your scouts' reports have been inaccurate?"

"Ah, so it did not go well? You will have to forgive me, seeing you in one piece seems to have given off the wrong impression," Parasect said, nodding its head.

"Do not try and ignore the question, insect. Explain yourself," Zen growled, glaring.

Parasect held up a pincer. "For all the time you have spent with us, it is humorous that you have forgotten not only where you are, but what role you play here." As it said that, a group of four Parasects scuttled inside, standing on either side of Zen. Paras shuddered, moving closer to Zen without getting close enough to irritate the Bisharp. "Such aggression would be frowned upon by any other host, but we are benevolent, so we shall look past this."

Shooting a glance at both sides, Zen crossed and gripped his arms. "I am grateful for your hospitality and generosity, yes, but my patience can only be tested so many times. You may have your numbers, but I have overwhelming strength on my side. Now, answer. My. Question."

"You are woefully mistaken if you think that what you have is enough to handle the Swarm, let alone be considered "overwhelming strength,"" Parasect said, slowly shaking its head. "You would not even be able to kill that measly Paras in a meaningful way with that "power" you flaunt around, 'Berserker'."

A terrified squeak left the tinier insect, and its eyes began to water. "D-D-Do not give him ideas please, dear elder! I-I very m-much enjoy being among the living!"

"Silence, little one, you will be fine," Parasect grumbled, its lifeless eyes glaring at Paras before looking back up to Zen. "This is a dungeon, and as such, is subject to change at any moment. The number of Galvantula in any given area should be considered as an estimation, as more or less can appear or vanish by the time you arrive. As we warned you when you first began working for us."

Zen sucked his teeth and crossed his arms. "...If there were only a few more or less than as scouted, I would not even care about this. But increasing from twenty scouted to forty fought in the span of less than ten minutes? Do you believe me to be as dense as the stones that surround you?"

"And why does the quantity matter? You killed them all regardless, and not only do you stand before us unharmed, but also more powerful than when you left to face them," Parasect pointed out, its body creaking as it tried to lean closer to Zen, staring into the Bisharp's eyes. "Is your desire not to acquire more of this… overwhelming strength? To find true power? Is that not why you seeked out the Swarm?"

The room grew colder as Zen's aura started to rise. "Do not think you know my intentions, insect."

"And do not think your intentions are well hidden, Berserker," Parasect chuckled. "You are strong, remarkably so for a creature such as yourself. The only way you could have acquired such strength is through an insatiable desire to grow. That is why we took you into our ranks, despite your claiming of searching for your companions." The giant Parasect's eyes flickered smugly as it leaned closer. "Do you think we would have accepted someone with such a pathetic goal otherwise?"

"...Hmph." Zen exhaled, dispersing his aura. He glanced at the two smaller Parasects to either side, then brought his glare back up to the giant before him. The two stared at each other for a moment before Zen went on, saying, "Your intelligence and intuition are exceptional, for the leader of a feral colony. If I were anyone else, I would assume you know me better than I do."

Parasect chuckled, a pleased glow coming from its eyes. "My my, that must be your second compliment towards us since your arrival. What was the first? I can barely remember it, it has been so long."

"The coordination of your colony, of course. It is rare to see a feral hive of this size at all, let alone to see them functioning so well together, as if you all are of one mind," Zen nodded. A silence fell over the room for a moment, until Zen himself broke it. "But I have wasted enough time here, when is the next scouting team returning?"

"Within the hour, and you will meet them at your usual meeting place. Until then, you are free to go about your business, as per usual," Parasect said, giving as much of a bow as its restricted body could allow. "We wish you another successful hunt, when it arises."

Zen turned to leave, glared down on Paras before walking ahead. The insect returned the bow to Parasect before quickly scuttling behind Zen.

A few moments passed, then Parasect's eyes took on an unsettling, milky glow. The eyes on the other Parasects also began to glow. "The Swarm is growing restless. See to it that it is satisfied," the glow in Parasect's eyes changed to a ghastly green, and spores of the same color showered down from it. When the spores reached the other Parasects' mushrooms, they changed from red and yellow to red and green. "By any means necessary."

After a long trek through the main hive chamber, Zen and Paras reached a cozy, secluded chamber, lacking in mushrooms. It was the only chamber with gems, being jet black and giving off a cold, dark sensation. Several cracks splintered along the walls and floor from fist shaped indents. Zen sat beside one of the larger gems, where most of the indents had been, and Paras stood a few feet in front of him.

"S-Sir Zen..? If I may?" Paras gulped, taking a step closer to Zen. The Bisharp gave it an uncaring glance, so Paras went on. "Wh-What are you planning, s-sir? I-I-I do not mean to pry and overstep my boundaries, b-but… you are thinking hard, yes?"

Zen, unsurprised that Paras was able to read him at all, nodded. "I must leave this place. There is one bastard within this dungeon that I need to slaughter. I will never forget the humiliation he forced upon me, and I will make sure he regrets it." Zen's aura flickered about his body, and he let out a growl. "Lee will die by my hands… and I cannot do that while I am stuck here with the likes of you."

"I-I see…" Paras muttered, its body lowering slightly. It went quiet, deep in thought. Eventually, it looked up at Zen, a somewhat determined gleam in its eyes. "If… If one were to guide you to the exit-"

"You would make us both enemies of the hive," Zen cut it off, shaking his head. "Not that it would be all that difficult once I am on the other floors, but you would have to face their wrath here, Paras."

"I-It is not like I am unused to it…" Paras muttered, shaking slightly. "They would not do anything different than before your arrival. B-But perhaps I could leave with you instead?"

Zen raised a brow, bringing his knee up and resting his elbow on it. "While I know why I want to leave this place, what could possibly be enough of a reason for you to leave now, assuming you had the ability to before and chose against it?"

A nervous chitter left Paras, and a faint green blush rose onto its face. "Y-Your… your rage. I wish to s-see it at its fullest," it said, looking anywhere but at Zen. "Y-Your rage i-is the only thing that spared me from meeting the same fate as my peers, I-I must… I must bear witness to it, at least once!"

"Really?" Zen hummed. That was… an answer, yes. These ferals were still full of surprises it seemed. "You have a good eye to recognize true power when you see it, unlike Parasect. However, we both know that you leaving with me would be problematic, this vile hive would not leave us alone. That, and you are physically weaker than the others…" he paused, looking Paras over again. The insect glanced up at Zen, then darted its eyes away when his and Zen's made contact. "...You are away that you I will not hesitate to leave you behind should you be more trouble than you are worth, correct?"

Paras nodded, lighting up a bit. "I-I would not risk weighing you down, sir! The last thing I w-would want is to feel your wrath myself. Whatever this Lee is, he sounds f-far more deserving of destruction!"

The bug's enthusiasm was not lost on Zen, he even cracked a grin seeing the bloodlust in its eyes. "Hmph, spoken like a true warrior." The metallic 'mon stood up and rolled his shoulders.

Lee… that wolf was far stronger than Zen was, back when they first fought. But Zen had done nothing but fighting and training for all of his time down here. Countless Galvantula have been slain by his hands, not one could stand against the wall of Zen's malice. That Wolf would taste Zen's vengeance soon enough.

"I take it you know where the exit is, then?" Zen asked Paras, looking down upon the insect.

Paras scuttled up to Zen's feet, shaking with determination. "Y-Yes, of course! I-I can guide you there, sir! Although it is quite far from here. We would not be able to get there undetected, and the hive has too many to face, so-"

"Would you rather I sit here and wait?" Zen growled, clenching his fists. His aura flared for a moment, casting a black glow over him.

"A-Ah! N-N-No!" Paras shook under Zen's glare. "B-But would it not be easier for us to escape without the hive pursuing us? N-Not even I know h-how many there are! You would be fighting for… I-I do not know how long!"

Zen crossed his arms, exhaling angrily. "While that would not be a problem for me, how do you suggest we avoid such an event?"

"W-We… I-I know where the exit is, y-yes? And you are frequently traversing this floor, fighting invading G-Galvantula, correct?" Paras began, getting a glare from Zen for it to get to its point. "Y-You must bring me along from n-now on whenever you fight, th-that way, I can guide us from the b-battlefield to the exit!"

"...Hmph. You are saying we must feign loyalty for just a bit longer, then? Use Parasect's schemes against him?" Zen hummed, shutting his eyes and crossing his arms. "Yes.. yes I can see that working in our favor. But will they not see you following me as suspicious in and of itself? You have not accompanied me before, and they still believe you fear me."

"P-Perhaps because I do… Your wrath is one to fear, s-sir," Paras gulped, looking away.

A chuckle left Zen's chest. "You are wise for your years. If only the rest of this pitiful hive had your instinct to fear what should be feared, otherwise I would not have to destroy it."

"How glorious a sight that will be to see!" Paras chittered happily. "Such carnage… all that bloodshed… the thought alone is enough for me to-"

"Curb your excitement, otherwise you will not make it to our escape." Maybe Paras was more enthusiastic than Zen thought. He felt he was going to regret this decision sooner rather than later.

"Y-Yes sir! O-Of course!" Paras squeaked sheepishly. "I will contain myself, sir! I will not compromise this opportunity!"

Zen gave the insect a nod, then leaned against the wall behind him. "Good. There is still a fair bit of time before I must meet the scouts. Steel yourself, Paras. One mistake and I will leave you behind. Do not forget that." Paras nodded in response, shivering slightly.

Soon… very soon… Zen would have his revenge, and erase his mistake from history. Lee will not see the light of day again, Zen swore to see to that himself.

At some point… Zen drifted off. He didn't sleep often, but every time he did, he always witnessed the same thing…

Nothingness, a void of grey, and the only thing there being himself. There was no sound; his steps made no noise, his armor never creaked, whenever he tried to speak his voice was hardly even a whisper…

Yet he could feel something grating at the back of his mind, clawing at his brain, irritating him to no end. He could never tell what it was, but it always felt familiar, and the uncertainty of whether or not he knew it only served to enrage him more…

And the further his rage went, the more distant yet confusingly unavoidable the grating and clawing became, and every night it got worse and worse. Luckily, this dream would always come to the same conclusion; an abrupt flash bringing him back to the waking world. This time, however, everything was off…

The void was entirely black, and more serene. A pleasant hum fell upon his ears instead of that irritating grating. His own footsteps echoed off into eternity… and he wasn't alone.

Standing before him was a figure even darker than the void around them. It was impossible to tell what it was, but much like the noises that pestered him night after night, it was concerningly familiar. Despite its face being too dark to actually see, Zen felt it was upset.

Zen asked it what it was, but his voice was jarring and incomprehensible. The figure held and shook its head. Zen spoke again, and the figure fell to its knees, punching the ground repeatedly. Zen ordered for the figure to calm down, but it refused. Having decided to physically intervene, Zen took a step forward, and the figure's head suddenly snapped to him. For a brief moment, Zen and the figure locked eyes, and he couldn't tell what he was looking at.

The figure slowly started to rise, taking a low stance. Whether it was preparing to attack him or not, Zen made sure he dealt the first blow. He swiftly threw out a jab and struck the figure in its head. For a split second, he felt his fist strike some hard, then almost instantly...

...Zen woke up, silent and still. He couldn't remember what it was about, but he vaguely remembered dreaming. Paras looked to have passed out itself, quietly chittering beside Zen's greaves. The Bisharp lightly kicked the insect awake, giving it a brief look before going about his business.

Some time later, Zen and Paras left their chamber. Upon entering the main hive chamber, they were quick to notice how few groups of Parasects were moving about. The lack of insects scuttling around gave the chamber an ominous silence, which was only disturbed by the pulsing of the mushrooms. Neither of the two had expected mushrooms to be able to pulse, and frankly they both thought they were better off never finding that bit of trivia out.

It was easy for Zen to look uninterested in what was going on, or lack of things going on, but Paras shook and nervously chittered as it followed behind the Bisharp. Paranoia crept into its mind, causing its eyes to dart in almost every direction. It walked up to Zen, hoping to get his attention, but received a cold, uncaring glare in return.

'One mistake and I will leave you behind…' Zen's warning played out in Paras' mind. It gulped and tried to calm itself back down, which hardly helped.

The pair eventually reached a chamber with tiny mushrooms completely covering the ceiling and walls to illuminate the room. A tunnel stood on the opposite wall, lit up with larger mushrooms, and in the middle of the chamber were two Parasects. Their eyes looked more lifeless than usual, but seemingly nothing else was wrong with them, at least to Zen.

"Take me to the Galvantula. I want to be rid of them quickly," Zen ordered. Paras stood behind him, shivering, and Zen suddenly had the perfect excuse for why it was following him to battle. "And this waste of organic matter is going to learn to fight."

Both of the Parasects stood there, staring blankly forward, then turned to the tunnel behind them and walked into it. Zen followed their lead, stoic as ever, but Paras didn't move a muscle. It broke out into a cold sweat, anxiously chittering to itself. It was almost enough to get on Zen's nerves, so he lightly kicked it in the side before he was too far away.

Unfortunately, Zen's 'light kick' flipped Paras right over, and the bug let out a pained wheeze. The Parasects turned at the noise, only to see Zen glaring at them with his aura flaring off of him.

"It got in my way, and if you wish to experience worse than that, I suggest you keep moving," Zen hissed, although the Parasects didn't seem to care at all. They were already moving before Zen even finished his sentence. He growled slightly, glancing back at Paras to see it upright and somewhat ashamed of itself.

"S-Sorry, sir," Paras muttered, following behind Zen.

Deep into the tunnel, after several twists and turns, the Parasects led Zen and Paras to a large, pitch-black chamber. It was difficult to tell how big this chamber might have been; what little light came from the tunnel behind them was quickly swallowed up in the dark around them. If there was anything alive here, Zen wasn't able to pick up on any auras to tell him so. Aside from, well… the obvious.

The air was thick, rich with spores, much like Parasect's chamber. Every breath Zen took irritated him more and more; it felt like he had just gone back to that vile insect's quarters. Zen could practically hear it talking down to him as if he was some sort of child, thinking Zen didn't know what that bastard meant just because it hid its true meaning in verbose flattery.

'Ah, Zen, excellent work clearing out those Galvantula with that measly power you are so fond of…'

'If only you had the true strength you pursue, it would have been done far quicker. Perhaps then you would be held as high by others as you hold yourself. Quite a shame…'

'You may call yourself a "Berserker," but with your current power your only use is being rid of these vermin…'

"The Galvantula are within this chamber, correct?" Zen asked, clenching his fists tightly. The Parasects didn't respond, instead turning to leave. "...Excellent." They were just leaving him to do his work, this was essentially the routine Zen fell into with these creatures. That, and there was no reason to answer a question with such an obvious answer. It shouldn't have pissed him off, it really shouldn't have… but as Zen extended his arm blades and sliced through those pretentious, conniving, high-horse bastards, the wave of catharsis that hit him was well worth it. "We'll be sure to inform the hive of the ambush that took your pathetic lives."

"Z-Zen! I-I mean, sir! What are you doing ?!" Paras exclaimed, scuttling up to the Bisharp. "Why would you do that?! I mean, yes, that was magnificent, but they all will know of what happened!"

Zen flashed the insect ooze off of his gauntlets, splattering some on Paras. "You seem to think I do not already know that." He didn't. "Now they are aware that I am not to be trifled with."

"Or they will assume you are now a threat and all come to attack you! Which includes me!" Paras chittered anxiously, wiping the Parasect blood off of him. "Y-You could not hold onto your wrath for just a bit longer? Would it not have been more satisfying to watch Parasect's body crumble beneath you?"

"Keep questioning my decisions and you will be the creature that crumbles beneath me," Zen said, cold. "Now, how far is the exit."

Paras looked around in the dark for a moment, then pointed off into the distance. "I-I believe it to b-be there, but you should not forget about the-"

Coincidentally, a powerful pair of mandibles crashed down onto Zen, causing the Bisharp's knees to buckle slightly. He wasted no time in tearing those limbs from whatever body they were connected to.

"The Galvantula?" Zen asked, tossing the mandibles to the side and forcing his fist into the feral's skull with a sickening crunch.

"Th-The Galvantula… yes," Paras gulped.

Unlike most times Zen had forced a Galvantula to open its mind to him, there wasn't a cry of pain that followed the crunch of exoskeleton. In fact, much to both Zen and Paras' surprise, the Galvantula used its forelegs to swipe at Zen. Zen would have dodged the hits, but he was firmly stuck inside of the Galvantula. Both forelegs struck swift blows to Zen's sides, drawing an aggravated hiss from the Bisharp.

"Tsk, dark pulse." Zen flexed his hand, and the Galvantula's body started to crack and distort. It let out a high-pitched screech as chunks of its head blew off, then it fell to the ground. Zen took a step back, looking at his gauntlet. It was… clean? There wasn't a drop of Galvantula blood on him. He let out a sharp exhale and dusted the bits of exoskeleton off as he watched the Galvantula's body twitch and writhe, its many legs clawing and scratching at the ground.

Paras scuttled close to Zen and tapped his leg frantically. "S-S-Sir, we should be making for the exit before it is too late!"

"Do not rush me," Zen hissed and gritted his teeth.

"I apologize, sir, and d-do not mean to force my needs upon you s-sir, but I do NOT wish to perish before I see your wrath fall upon the hive!" Paras shouted. "If we dawdle any longer, I doubt even your might will be enough to salvage this horrid situation!"

Under normal circumstances, Zen felt he would have crushed the insects head right then and there, but he could feel the air starting to shift. Very, very faintly, the familiar creaks and groans of giant insect bodies moving echoed in the dark, yet Zen still couldn't sense anything.

"...I recommend you do not grow attached to giving me orders, insect," Zen warned, kicking the still writhing body of the Galvantula to the side. Just as he did so, the Galvantula's foreleg shot up towards his chest. All Zen did was turn a bit and let the appendage get sliced on his body blades. Still, no blood poured from its wound…

Zen glanced back down at Paras. "I will not remind you to keep up with me. Fall behind, and you will die," he said, then turned back to the dark. "I doubt you could keep pace with me on foot, so if you have a plan to stay alive, put it in motion now."

Paras gave a silent, shaky nod, then spat a string of silk onto Zen's back. It then pulled itself onto Zen's back, tightly gripping onto his torso. Zen expected this, and he still despised every second of it.

With a crackle of dark energy, Zen shot forward into the chamber. His eyes darting in every direction, scanning for even the faintest of movements. Which wasn't all that useful in a pitch black, spore-ridden chamber. To prove that point, Zen was rammed in his legs by some fast, small creature. As he stumbled and caught himself, all Zen could tell about the creature was that there was a mushroom on its back, but it wasn't a Parasect.

"Vile bastard," Zen hissed, snapping around to charge the creature down. It didn't take long for him to catch up to it, and firmly place his fist through it and the stone underneath it. Pained hisses and screeches left Zen's victim, and much unlike that Galvantula from before, the familiar warmth of insect blood coated his arm. But very much like that Galvantula… this was one as well.

Paras scuttled up to Zen's shoulder, letting out a startled chitter. "I-Is that… th-that is not a Parasect body, sir…"

"Obviously, I am aware," Zen said flatly, flashing mushroom and Galvantula ooze off his gauntlet. He jumped back and sped towards the direction of the exit once more.

"B-But that is a m-mushroom…" Paras muttered, holding onto Zen more tightly.

"Again, obviously," Zen replied, keeping his gaze somewhat lower than before. "Meaning they know where we are, which also means they did not know that before." Suddenly, Zen shot off to the right.

"Not only that but… i-if they are able to control Galvantula, then…" Paras froze. Somewhere in the dark, far behind them, was the sound of heavy footsteps and crushed rockstone. They were getting faster, faster than any living creature should have been, and louder too! "W-We are being pursued!"

Metal screeched against the floor as Zen made a sudden stop and spun around, gritting his teeth. "And shouting our position is no-" A powerful Galvantula foreleg struck at his chest hardly a moment after he started speaking. Zen barely had the time to grab the attack. "-t helping!"

Another foreleg lashed out at Zen, striking the side of his leg. He sucked his teeth, his aura flaring, and sent a kick to the Galvantula's skull. Zen's leg went further than he expected, however, and the sound of chitin shattering under steel never graced his ears. As Zen's aura grew, shining a dim black light over him and his opponent, he saw his leg sticking into a hole in the side of the Galvantula's head. The very same one he defeated only moments ago.

"What?" There was a very brief moment of shock, long enough for Zen to get struck in the leg once more and his knees to buckle. "This creature… it should be dead, I killed it myself!" he hissed, breaking the foreleg he held in half and pulling his leg back. Thin strands of milky white tendril were stuck on his leg, until his aura burned them to ashes.

Paras shook and chittered anxiously, gripping tighter onto Zen. It seemed entirely unaffected by Zen's aura. "O-Our best chance is to destroy it completely or r-run! I do not not know how many ar-"

"If I must destroy it, then I shall." Zen shot two blindingly fast jabs at the Galvantula, sending more of its ruined skull flying off of it. Inside of it was a sea of dim white tendrils, pulsing gently with some unholy energy Zen couldn't recognize, and despised looking at. "This abomination shall exist no longer."

The Galvantula's body creaked as it held both forelegs up, shining with sickening green aura. An X-Scissor. Zen grabbed the forelegs before they hit, crushing them in half. "Slash." In an instant, both of the Galvantulas forelegs were cut clean off its body and tossed aside.

It persisted anyway, lunging forward with the two legs it had left. Zen easily sidestepped the attack, which he himself felt insulted by considering it one. As he was about to slice the creature in two, something charged directly into his legs. Another one of the small Galvantula.

"Disgusting little-!" Another moment of distraction, punished much like the first with a powerful blow to the side from the first Galvantula. Zen caught himself before he hit the ground, growling fiercely. "Putrid bastard!"

"W-W-We must find an escape! Before we a-are swarmed!" Paras cried out.

"I will do no such goddamn thi-" Zen was cut off by another tackle from the tiny Galvantula. He let out a furious bark, crushing the insect under his fist. Cracks splintered far along the floor. "Vile pest! Know your place!"

In an instant, two forelegs slammed onto Zen's head, chipping off a piece of his helm's blade. The Bisharp choked and jumped back, his aura flaring even higher. The Galvantula's forelegs had reattached to its body, with white tendrils sticking out of the cracks Zen gave it. Longer tendrils grew out of the Galvantula's head, writhing and pulsing in a sickening fashion. Upon its back, now revealed thanks Zen's aura, was a cluster of small, glowing mushrooms and a mess of pulsing tendrils digging into the Galvantula.

"YOU WORTHLESS, HORRID CREATURE!" Zen shouted, stomping his foot. The beast made a low, crackly noise, sort of like a chuckle but almost unrecognizable. A fierce snarl cracked along Zen's face as he pulled his arm back. "I will see to it that there is NOTHING of you left! Dark pulse!"

He threw his arm forward, blasting the Galvantula with a blast of concentrated malice. The Galvantula didn't even bother to dodge it, having one of its legs blasted off because of it. It didn't even flinch, instead lunging at Zen and tackling his chest. Tendrils wrapped around Zen's body, trying to dig into him but to no avail. Zen was quick to figure out what it was doing, and grabbed Paras off his back and tossed the insect in the air.

"Witness, bug, a taste of my fury, a glimpse of my rage, as I give into it and lash out!" Zen barked, slamming a fist into the Galvantula's head. Lucky for Paras, it was too far for Zen to notice it cringe slightly. He did it again and again, cracking its rotting exoskeleton to reveal the writhing tendrils underneath, and punching it even more.

Feral growls and huffs left his chest as he broke the beast's body down, bit by bit. More of the tendrils grabbed onto his body, holding him in place, but he was too furious to care. Zen then pierced the Galvantula's body with his gauntlet, crackling with darkness. "Dark Pulse!"

An explosion separated the two and pushed them far from each other, conveniently putting Zen in place to catch Paras. The Galvantula let out a choked groan; very little of its body remained, leaving only a pulsating cluster of tendrils.

"You have wasted enough of my time, abomination," Zen spat holding his palm towards the beast. A dense sphere of malice appeared before it, crackling with raw power. "Dark pulse." With a flash of darkness, the cluster was reduced to smoldering bits and pieces, with no Galvantula husk in sight.

Paras shook, from a mix of fear, excitement, dread, and some fourth emotion that it didn't quite know but reveled in anyway. "Th-That was s-spectacular!" it chittered happily, reattaching itself to Zen's back. "B-But we must leave now! The hive will not let us go so easily!"

With a deep breath and a long sigh, Zen dispelled his aura and huffed. He brushed his gauntlet against his helm blade, grimacing as he realized part of it was broken off, then glared down at Paras. "Your impatience is an annoyance. You have the privilege to bear witness to some of my might, and you still fear for your life?"

"I-I do not fear for mine…" Paras muttered. "F-Fatigue will be your g-greatest enemy against the hive… A-And of the swarm…" it shuddered and chittered nervously. "...I know little, and w-we have little time left! Please, sir, let us leave this wretched hole!"

"Hmph," Zen huffed, before dashing off in the direction Paras said held the exit, leaving bits of fungus smoldering in darkness.

"Oh don't you look at me like that..." a voice huffed, followed by the roar of flames. "Just because your fur still looks great doesn't mean you can laugh at mine. I wouldn't look like such a mess if it wasn't for you anyway."

A chamber holding plain, dull-grey gems, also held a Zangoose, whose pelt has certainly seen better days. The white of her fur was covered in dirt and rustled, and the pink stripe over her body had faded a fair bit, revealing the original red underneath it. Sitting a few feet from her was one little Eevee, whose fur was remarkably immaculate in comparison.

Eva had her sights set on one of the larger gems. It looked like she was busy blasting a few of them already, if several gems being charred,covered in soot, or shattered meant anything. She pulled her head back, a furious swirl of flames inside her maw, then let out a blast of fire almost half her size. The flames engulfed the gem Eva was aiming for entirely, then exploded in a dazzling flash of fire, smoke, and shattered gem.

"Finally, took it long enough!" Eva cheered, then immediately wheezed and coughed out thick clouds of smoke. "G-Geez… that part still hurts…" she choked, pounding her chest to get more smoke out. Mia watched, her tail swishing back and forth behind her. Eva rolled her eyes and fell on her backside. "If this advice of yours turns out to be some dumb prank, I'm putting you in time out."

Mia pouted, stamping a paw on the ground. She then crossed her forelegs across her chest and turned away, insulted. What a drama queen.

"Hey, I'm just saying… this advice feels dumb and you looking all smug about it doesn't make it feel like training," Eva said, holding up her paws. "And, also, that last bit I said. We could've group up with the others by now, possibly."

The Eevee shook her head, walking up to Eva. She stood up on her hind legs, propping herself up on Eva's chest and staring into Eva's eyes with a gentle, worried look. Neither of them moved for a moment, until Eva sighed and her shoulders slumped.

"I'm not… I can take care of myself, of both of us, until we find everyone else," Eva muttered, her ears drooping. "We didn't need to do all of this training, we would've been fine once we regrouped."

Mia pouted and glared, pushing angrily against Eva.

"We don't all need to be one 'mon armies, alright? We're not gonna stay separated forever, I already promised that," Eva huffed, turning away. "We're part of a team, we can't go and get stronger on our own, you know?"

A puzzled look fell upon Mia, and she tilted and shook her head.

Eva's face grew slightly red. "I-It made sense in my head…" she said, pouting, then let out a sigh. "I just… I dunno, it feels like we'd already be out of here if we were looking for our friends first, is all."

Silence fell over the pair, then Mia tried to wrap her arms around Eva in a hug, pretty much falling into the Zangoose's fur. Eva smiled weakly, stroking the kit's back. "The both of us know they're all gonna be alright. We just have to get to them, then everything will go back to normal."

"Tell you what, how about we put in one more bit of training, then get outta here and get back to our friends?" Eva asked, smiling. Mia's face lit up and she nodded excitedly, getting a chuckle from Eva. "It'll be fun, if you count coughing up smoke and burning your throat as fun."

Mia gave Eva a smug, sassy look, then pressed her paws against Eva's snout and grinned.

"You're not allowed to be adorably smug, cheater," Eva huffed, grabbing Mia and lifting the Eevee off her. "And I'm still serious about the time out thing."

Mia crossed her forelegs and shot a puff of smoke at Eva's nose, then snickered at the new soot-colored mark on her face. Eva tried to return the favor, but only coughed and choked on smoke, and Mia blew whatever would've gotten on her back to Eva.

"O-Once we're outta here… I am dragging you through the dirt," Eva coughed. Mia booped her snoot against Eva's, smiling innocently. "Don't you think for a second playing cute is gonna save you, I've already decided to do it, and you can't change my mind."

A pout fell upon Mia's face once more, and she stuck her tongue out at Eva. The Zangoose rolled her eyes, giggling. "You brought it on yourself, smarty pants. But we can save that for later. Something for one of us to look forward to," Eva said smugly. "For now, I need some rest. All out of fire and all." She set Mia down, letting the Eevee get comfortable beside her before falling onto her back.

Eva honestly couldn't wait to get some more rest, but… something was bothering her. She couldn't tell what that something was, however, so she shut her eyes to ignore it for now.

The sound of rustling leaves and a gentle breeze lured Eva awake. Grass was crushed beneath her, as soft as a bed of feathers. Fresh air filled her lungs with every breath. The vibrant purples and oranges of twilight washed over her fur, and the clearing she awoke in. The forest's edge was right beside her, and one of the trees leaned over her, covering her with loose leaves. On her other side, a hill, leading up to the rest of the clearing.

Eva sat herself up, wincing painfully and gritting her teeth. Sharp pains shot up and down her back, and every single movement she made had her muscles screaming. If sleeping on your arm wrong gave you pins and needles, Eva must've gotten the deluxe, full-body package of spears and arrows

Looking down at herself… she was a mess. Twigs and dirt clung to her fur, she had bruises and welts all over her body, and when she wiped her mouth… speckles of red rubbed off on her paw. It felt pretty obvious she didn't just sleep wrong… maybe she got in a fight? She definitely had her ass handed to her if she did.

"O-Ok… First things first…" Eva muttered to herself, leaning against a tree as she pulled herself up. She gave herself a minute or so to catch her breath, and to try and push through the pain of standing. "Wh-Where… am I?"

The only response Eva got was the breeze briefly picking up, carrying away some leaves. Rude, leaving without giving an actual answer. Looked like Eva was gonna have to do some actual looking, meaning she had to climb a hill…

"Fan...tastic."

Eva took a long, deep breath, then slowly let it out. Her first step shot a searing pain up her leg, shooting right through her body. It took everything she had not to buckle over right there. "N-Not good… Terrible, even." But hey, for how shit everything was looking, at least Eva knew she was most likely on Sunset still. All she had to do was get back home and patch herself up. In fact, with the faint sense of deja vu she was feeling, it was possible she was already close to home!

With her graciously gifted broken leg, walking was probably a bad idea. The next best thing would be to be carried, but that was clearly impossible, and Eva told herself to leave the jokes to someone else. She went down on her hands and knees, or knee since one of them is busted, and slowly crawled up the hill.

Several long minutes later, and several breaks along the way, Eva finally reached the top. It probably took less time than it felt, but when the sky got dark, her little hike felt like a marathon. The Zangoose fell on her stomach, panting and huffing for air. She stayed there, silent, until the wind started to pick up again, and her attention was drawn towards the middle of the clearing.

There was… a tall, black figure. It just stood there, entirely quiet, but it looked like all of the wind was coming from it.

Something inside Eva cracked, aside from what was already broken, of course. She found herself staring at the figure, unsure if it was staring back or not, but some part of her was hoping it was… for some reason.

Slowly, that deja vu from before rose again, along with a delayed sense of dread. Two piercing red eyes appeared on the figure's face, looking directly at Eva. Everything around the two started to blur into deep purples, dark reds, and blacks. It was only her… and it.

For a while, fortunately, neither of them moved. Neither of them even spoke, for that matter. It would have been almost entirely tolerable, if not for the sharp, feral breathing coming from the figure. Just to further Eva's confusion, the figure suddenly dropped to the ground, groaning in pain and clutching its chest.

"...Wh-What?" Eva blinked. Curiosity urged her to move closer, and some other part of her wanted her to help it, but what was she going to do? Her leg was broken, her body felt like it was falling apart, and for how much the figure looked like it was in pain… there was an overwhelming sense of danger coming from it. Eva couldn't get close to it even if she actually wanted to.

A steady pain started to rise in Eva's chest. Or rather, less so pain, and more… hurt. "Wh-What..? What h-happened..?" She clutched her chest and fell to her side. The dark fuzziness around them started to close in, and Eva's body slowly drifted away. "W-Wait… H-Hold on…" she muttered weakly, that hurt growing inside her. "N-Not… yet… Not…"

"Plpblpbltblpp!" Eva sputtered, spitting out strands of brown fur. Mia had made the genius decision to move up to her face to sleep. "A-Are you kidding, Mia? I couldn't breathe!"

Mia yawned and stretched out her tiny body, shooting Eva an unconcerned glance.

"First I'm dragging you through the mud, then I'm shaving you," Eva glared. Mia's fur shot up, and she frantically shook her head. "Maybe don't try and smother someone in their sleep, then? You're lucky I don't feel like cleaning your fur out of my fur after I shave you. Gods, you even made me forget my dream and everything!"

Mia let out a relieved sigh, flopping down on her stomach and letting out a tiny plume of smoke.

After stretching out herself, Eva stood up and puffed out her chest. Now was as good a time as any to get any last minute training in. "Alright, let's burn some gems and ruin my throat! Then get outta here and look for the others!" Eva said, pumping a fist.

Mia perked right up, smiling brightly and hopping onto Eva's shoulder. The little 'vee pointed at one of the un-burned gems, and her tail swished excitedly behind her.

"You know you don't have to aim me, right? But I'll be nice and let you do it just this once. Can't say I've never done anything nice for you now, huh?" Eva chuckled, smoke billowing from the edges of her mouth. Clearly, she was excited as well, but that was more because she was finally gonna leave this incredibly boring floor. If she never saw another dull-grey gem again, it'd be too soon...

After thoroughly scorching and shattering another poor, defenseless gem, Eva was left exhausted, and her throat aflame. Every exhale was a puff of smoke, and every inhale felt like sand.

"That still h-hurts, but at least I'm g-getting better… What I wouldn't do f-for some water right about now," Eva coughed, wincing. She looked at the Eevee sitting happily on her shoulder. "H-How did you manage to g-get so good at it?"

Mia shrugged, hopping onto Eva's head and smiling at her, then nodded towards one of the tunnels. Looking into it was like looking into a dark room, meanwhile the other tunnels were lit up by the gems inside them.

A relieved look fell over Eva's face, and she let out a chuckle. "Finally… we can go and find the others. I'll be honest, training up a bit makes this dungeon feel a bit less… 'imminent danger'-y, too. We'll definitely find the others and get outta here now!" she said, confident.

Mia winced ever so slightly and patted Eva on the head.

"...You think I just jinxed it?" Eva asked, then lost some color in her face. "I-Is it too late to take that back?" Mia shook her head, and Eva's shoulder sank a bit. She walked towards the tunnel, somewhat ashamed of herself. "Aw man…"

"The hell're ya complainin' for, Yellow? Ain't ya the one that said it was my turn to pick where we go?" Minerva huffed, flicking her electrified companion's ear. "Ya ain't scared of findin' somethin' down here that'll kick ya ass, right?"

"N-No… it's just…" Rio touched the tips of his digits together and pouted. He hid his tail between his legs, and a faint, nervous sweat dotted his forehead. Minerva read him like a black and yellow book.

They were walking down a tunnel lined with deep-pink gems, overflowing with psychic aura. It was so aura-rich that the stone making up the tunnel was tinged pink, and each step Rio took sent psychic-chills up his legs. It felt dangerous just walking here, imagine how strong a psychic-type here could be?

Rio's eyes darted in every direction as he thought of something that Minerva wouldn't make fun of him for. The only thing that came to mind was pink, because everything here was pink. Aside from himself, obviously. Then it hit him, the perfect excuse! "I, uh… don't wanna risk absorbing psychic gems and turning pink, yeah, that's it! You'd never let me forget it if I did!"

"...So ya'd rather be piss yellow than hot pink?" Minerva tilted her head and raised a brow, her tail swishing in thought.

Rio's perfect excuse had already failed him. He could hear the voice in his head laughing at him now, that jerk. "I-er… a-actually…" Rio stuttered, then sighed. "Y-You were right the first time…"

A devilish grin stretched over Minerva's snout. "Huh? What? I ain't heard ya."

"Y-You're actually doing this to me… aren't you?" Rio whimpered. If Minerva wasn't on his shoulder, Rio would have glared daggers and knives at her.

"I'm just askin' ya to repeat yaself, I'm a lil hard o' hearin' an' all," Minerva snickered.

Oh, so she knew she was getting under his skin, andRio knew damn well she could hear perfectly. But... he also knew she'd probably get annoying about it if he didn't answer, so… "Fine… I said you were right the first time."

"Come again, Yellow?"

"I just…" Rio exhaled, a staticy blush rising on his cheeks."I'm scared about something beating my ass here, alright?! You happy now?" Was this really what Kora had to deal with for however long he and Minerva were friends? Playful teasing and jabbing? It… wasn't bad, but being embarrassed all the time wasn't the most fun either! It was only kinda fun.

"There we go, Yellow!" Minerva laughed, giving Rio a hardy pat on the head. "That wasn't that hard, huh?"

"Just wait until I find something about you to tease you about…" Rio grumbled, turning his head to the side. "We'll see how fun it is when someone messes with you for hours on end."

Another hardy pat and some snickering from Minerva. "Yea, sure. The day ya get to pick on me is the day ya beat me in a fight."

'Oh she won't know what hit her, right Rio? You totally aren't gonna get your butt kicked by someone who'd have to jump to do it, riiiiiiiiiight?'

Rio's eye twitched and he clenched his fists. 'I'm gonna find a way to kick your ass, first,' he thought, growling, then shook his head. "Just because you can throw me doesn't mean you can beat me, ya know. I might already be stronger than you, and you'd never know."

"Bitch ain't ya the one scared o' bein' pink?" Minerva rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"No, I'm scared of getting beat by something pink!" Rio huffed, a static blush on his face. "G-Get it right at least…"

Minerva snickered, resting against Rio's head and purring ever so gently. "I just wanted to hear ya say it again, hehe!"

"You're gonna kill me…" Rio groaned as his shoulders fell. "Can we hurry and find Kora so you can pester him?"

"Awww, don't be like that, Yellow! Think 'bout it this way, me an' ya might actually find somethin' this time! Maybe a big ol' expensive gem we can pawn off for massive coin! Oooo, maybe we'll get our paws on a rare metal that'll sell for millions!" Minerva beamed, her eyes sparkling as static danced off her body.

"Or some more Galvantula to send back to Nize." Rio flinched as some of those sparks got irritatingly close to his eyes. He waved a few of them off, flinching whenever some of them sank into his body. "You only have three settings, but I'm at least glad your greed isn't one that teases me."

"Don't act like ya don't enjoy it," Minerva purred, brushing her tail against Rio's cheek..

Uncomfortable shocks ran up Rio's spine, causing all his fur to stand on end and his cheeks to crackle with embarrassment. "And with that we're outta here!" he blurted out, jolting off in a burst of electricity.

Roaring laughter left the tiny feline. "PAH! Ya should look at ya face!"

"Nope! Shut up! We are moving!"

"I just noticed ya blush static, actually."

"I said we aren't talking about this anymore!"

Several minutes of running later, Rio and Minerva stop suddenly. Both of them look at the walls around them, and even back down and up the tunnel.

"...Hey, Rio?" Minerva muttered, her tail swishing in thought. "We ain't pass by nothin' right? I still ain't used to goin' that fast but… I coulda sworn we ain't seen anythin' yet."

Rio looked down the tunnel again, then shook his head. "I've been paying attention for an offshoot or something, but I don't think I saw anything…" He wasn't entirely used to his speed either, but he wasn't going as fast as he possibly could… Was it possible he still overlooked something?

'I know you didn't ask, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary either… which itself is out of the ordinary… Granted, I was only half paying attention since I'm still finding out all the things that changed in our body. Like, have you noticed you don't sweat, you body instead shoots off more electric arcs?''

Bodily trivia aside, the voice was in agreement that no one saw anything. Rio's aura crackled around him as worry and confusion filled his chest. "Minerva, wait here a sec, I'm gonna run back and double check."

"Gotcha." The Meowth hopped off of Rio's shoulder, and he instantly shot off down the tunnel, trailing lightning off his body. By the time Minerva hit the ground, Rio returned, electricity arcing off his body. "Oh… uh, see anythin'?"

"Nope… This is just a straight, empty tunnel. And it feels like it just goes on forever," Rio said with a nervous chuckle.

Minerva flinched slightly, and her tail stood straight. "Creepy…" she muttered. "Did ya try that aura sense thing? And ya still didn't pick up nothin'?"

A blank expression fell on Rio's face, then he suddenly and loudly facepalmed. "God damn it! I totally forgot I could do that!" he yelled.

"Rio what the hell?!" Minerva barked, jumping up on the Lucario to grab him by the neck fluff. "That is one of two things I know Lucarios can do, an' ya just went an' forgot?!"

"I-I'm sorry! I guess I'm still getting used to this body and all that!" Rio whimpered.

This time, Minerva looked blankly at Rio. "...Oh yea, ya're an' Outlander. Huh…"

"H-How did you forget that?" Rio asked, baffled.

'Let's be honest, anyone could have forgotten that,' the voice in his head said, and Rio felt the faintest urge to shrug just then. 'You aren't exactly the prime example of one, you know. I don't remember the last time I met one so… like you, that sounds nice.'

"I'll be honest, I ain't got a clue," Minerva said with a shrug, then slipped onto Rio's shoulder. "Ya don't really act like the ones I heard 'bout, or Diana either. Maybe that's why?"

'See?'

Rio deadpanned, grumbling to himself. That mental list of ways he was gonna slap that voice around grew just that much more. "I feel like I should be insulted, but… whatever. Let's try this sense out before I forget it again." He shut his eyes, taking a deep breath. His aura crackled to life around him once more, and in a flash of yellow before his eyes…

He saw nothing except him and Minerva, and a faint yellow glow around them.

'Well… that's a step up from earlier, now you can see individuals! Just… not the floor anymore… strange.'

Rio gritted his teeth and shook his head. "I… didn't see anything. I'm blind down here I think, other than seeing us."

"Sunova bitch!" Minerva hissed, her own electric aura arcing off her body as she punched a wall. Rio's feelers suddenly perked up. "Fine, whatever! Let's just-"

"No no wait… do that again," Rio interrupted, looking around briefly.

"...What? Punch the wall?" Minerva asked, then shrugged. "Shit, might as well. Punchin' shit always makes me feel better." She pulled back her fist, electricity arcing off of her, and punched the wall again. A fist-sized indent was left, crackling with static.

Rio's face lit up as his feelers rose, and that yellow glow expanded and crackled. "I saw that! The lightning, it lit up the wall a bit!"

'I see..? Your sense only picks up electricity in this form, huh? Interesting. Sure explains a lot…'

"Oh, I think I get it…" Minerva hummed, then a grin grew across her face. "If I had to light this place up, ya shoulda just said, Yellow!" She rolled her neck and shoulders, standing on top of Rio's head as her aura got bigger and wilder. All of a sudden, a mighty Thunder cracked off of Minerva's body, traveling down the tunnel in a brilliant flash. "How's that, huh?" Minerva said, entirely smug.

Rio's feelers shot straight up, and winced, covering his eyes. It felt like he went from a pitch black room to staring at the sun. "G-Give a guy a warning next time, I coulda went blind!" he yipped, then shook his body.

At least Minerva's Thunder did it's job; Rio saw the rest of the tunnel clearly, and luckily it did come to an end, coming out to another chamber. Hell, Minerva's thunder was so potent, Rio even saw the cracks in the walls… which were spread out pretty evenly through the tunnel, and went kinda deep from the look of it.

"Ain't my fault ya ain't practiced," Minerva pouted, crossing her arms. "But what'd ya see?"

"I saw our ticket outta here!" Rio snickered, pumping his fist. "We'll be outta here in no time, if I'm fast enough!"

Minerva grinned, sliding down to Rio's back and making sure she was on tight. "Then the hell're ya waitin' for, Yellow? Get us the hell outta here!"

'Ooo! Can I do countdo-'

'...Rude.'

A few moments later, a flash of lighting sparked into, to absolutely no one's surprise, a vast, poen chamber. The first thing either of them noticed, aside from how every floor seemed to have one impossibly large chamber in it, was that there was less chamber than either of them would have liked. Instead of a flat stone floor, or a floor at all, there were floating stone platforms with psychic gems of varying sizes jutting out of them. Hell, there was hardly any space where Rio was standing, either. One or two steps forward and he'd fall right off into… hopefully a pit that was smaller than it looked.

"Hmmm… at least ya ain't gotta worry 'bout shit kickin' ya ass here," Minerva hummed, standing on top of Rio's head to get a better look at the next-to-nothing around them. "Shit… I ain't even sure if there's anythin' here at all."

"Is it because you can't see anything from up there, or are you not high enough to see anything?" Rio chuckled, getting bopped by Minerva's tail.

"Ain't my fault ya short as hell," Minerva grumbled.

"But it is your fault for being the size of a boot," Rio said with a shit eating grin, even after he got bopped again. "Us being short aside, I didn't sense any other tunnels so… this is it. We probably gotta get to the other side… if there is one."

Minerva let out a groan, crossing her arms and letting her head hang back. "Ya mean we gotta jump from rock to rock? Goddamnit…" she lowered herself to Rio's back, holding on tightly. "Let's get this shit over with. Can't keep Kora an' the rest o' 'em waitin'."

Oh, yeah, Rio had forgotten for a sec… or maybe a bit longer than a sec. Gods, it felt like this whole dungeon thing went on for forever, and yet almost no time has really passed at all! It'd be frustrating and confusing if Rio took the time to think about it.

"Right, yeah…" Rio nodded, looking over the edge one more time. All of a sudden, a pit formed in his stomach. He already thought it was bottomless, but for some reason it felt even more bottomless. "So I just, like, jump unto one of those floating rocks, right?"

"Uh-huh, don't think too hard 'bout it, Yellow. Ya jacked way the hell up on lightnin' an' shit, I bet ya can make it," Minerva reassured Rio, purring a bit.

Rio took a deep breath to calm his nerves, but whether it was the electricity coursing through his body, or him being nervous because why the hell wouldn't he be, he was jumpy and jittery and couldn't get himself to focus.

'If we really need to… I think I might be able to do this myself. Seeing how you aren't yet used to everything a regular Lucario can do, I don't think it'd be smart to toss you around in a suped up body,' the voice in his head said. Honestly, Rio would gladly take that offer. In a heartbeat, or even faster than that. The Lucario was about to agree, when the voice interrupted him. 'Ah, sweet! Now… lemme just, uh… Give me a sec I… hmm… Wait I think I got it!'

There was a moment of silence, then Rio's body suddenly locked up. He felt lightheaded and… similar to when he first fell to Sunset; instead of feeling like his body was his own, it felt strangely foreign.

'Wh-What the hell did you do? Is this supposed to happen?' Rio thought, feeling like he should be panicking more than he was. He even tried to step back, but nothing happened. Nothing. 'D-Did you make me forget how to move?!'

'...Whoa.'

'I literally can't move and all you have to say is "whoa?"' Was Rio being ignored or something?! This was serious! They needed to get out of here, they needed to move, they needed to do shit! And Rio just COULDN'T!

Rio suddenly took a deep breath, letting their head hang back and that fresh dungeon air to fill their lungs. They stretched out their body, twisted their torso, rolled their shoulders, and exhaled. Rio flexed their paws, static crackling along his body, and a grin stretched along his snout.

"I get if ya gotta stretch out an' shit, but can we hurry this up?" Minerva grumbled, shuffling a bit on Rio's back.

With a silent nod, Rio took a low stance. Electricity arced off of their body, then they bolted into the air. Moments later, they crashed down on one of the floating platforms with a discharge of electricity that echoed throughout the chamber. The platform shook from their landing and lowered a bit, then the gems sticking out of it began to glow and it fixed itself.

Rio and Minerva both went silent, looking back to see that they skipped two other platforms entirely.

"Whoa…" Minerva muttered, static sparking excitedly off of her. "Holy shit dude, that was incredible!"

'Yeah…' Rio thought, chuckling internally. 'Never thought I could jump that far. Guess you were being literal when you said you were taking over.'

'You always could, actually. Hell, might've been able to jump even farther if we weren't shaking off the rust still,' the voice said, shaking their head. 'This is why we aren't supposed to skip out on training.'

'Y-You knew?' Rio sputtered. He would've rubbed the back of his head, but, obviously he couldn't. 'My bad, hehe…'

The two's internal conversation was cut short by Minerva poking Rio in the side. "Hey, ya still there? Rio? Did somethin' happen? Ya ain't sprain ya ankle or nothin'?"

Rio jumped slightly, forgetting that Minerva was even there. The Lucario paused for a moment, then gave the feline a silent nod. That was enough for Minerva, who readjusted herself and said, "Then let's keep goin', the sooner we're outta here the better."

Rio nodded again, shooting off towards another stone platform. They landed with another electrical discharge, stumbling a couple steps forward.

'This looks so easy, you think I can give it a shot?' Rio thought.

They shook their head. 'What I'm doing is a lot more difficult than just jumping, and I'm not gonna backseat drive this body around when there's a bottomless pit below us,' the voice said, serious, as they leapt to another floating stone.

Rio pouted, wanting to cross his arms. So what if he barely knew how to use his body? The voice didn't have to point it out. 'You have a point, but just know that I am hurt.'

'I thought you'd be used to that by now,' the voice chuckled. 'Don't worry, I'll give you pointers after we're outta here, pointers you may or may not ignore, but at least then you can't say I've never tried to help.'

Further into the chamber, the stones got larger, had more gems sticking out of them, and some of them drifted parallel to each other. Another thing to note, less and less electricity arced from Rio's body with each landing, and for the first time in a while, they were starting to feel kinda tired.

'I'm starting to think that something might be up…' the voice hummed, flexing Rio's paws.

'We have been jumping for a while now. It was about time for us to get tired, wasn't it?' Rio thought in response.

Rio shook their head. 'No no… it's something else. I've been tired before, but this is a different kind of tired,' the voice said. Rio lowered again, aiming for one of the closer platforms. When they jumped, however, they realized they weren't reaching as high as before. They just barely made it onto the platform they were aiming for, landing right on the edge of it and flailing their arms for balance.

"Cuttin' it pretty damn close, Rio," Minerva gulped, holding onto Rio tighter. "I know I said I wanna get the hell outta here but I'd like to do it alive."

'Yeah, the hell was that?' Rio asked, a tinge of panic in his voice. 'Was that on purpose? I'd really like to know it was… P-Please tell me it was?'

There was a brief silence, which felt like it went on forever to Rio, before the voice replied. '...Before I answer that, how exactly do you suck?'

Oh for the love of- 'It is not called that, and how do you not know? Aren't you, like, a part of me? Don't you already know what I know?! A-And what does that have to do with the jump?'

'No, actually, I'm not a part of you, I'm just inside you.' A pause. 'Do you know how to explain the suck thing or not?'

'I dunno, I just do it! It just happens!' Rio felt more of that fancy panic rising up inside him. 'Wh-Why do you need to know that? What did you do?'

Rio walked forward, away from the edge, and placed their paw on one of the psychic gems. Nothing happened. 'I just let it happen? That can't be right...' the voice thought.

'Why are you ignoring me now? Again?!'

'Because I need you to shut up and I don't know how to do that if you're hysterical.'

'Th-Then calm me down! Answer my question! That'd calm me down a whole lot quicker than not saying anything! H-How do you expect me to calm down if I know nothing?!'

Rio looked at their paw, their brow furrowed, then put it on the gem again. Still nothing. 'You're getting hysterical because you already know the answer, don't try and blame me for this. Now… how the hell do I do this..?' the voice hummed, thoughtful.

That did not sit easy with Rio. Being read like a book so nonchalantly… it was unsettling, but it didn't feel all that bad. It probably should've made him feel even worse, but this didn't feel like the first time. That aside… something was wrong. Oh gods, something was wrong… But the voice was calm, Minerva was… probably calm(Rio wasn't really paying attention to her), so maybe Rio should just… chill for a sec. 'O-Ok… but… But you shoulda told me anyway!'

'And take away this speedy development from you? Why I'd never. Honestly I was expecting you to still be at it,' the voice chuckled, then growled as they slammed their paw onto the gem. 'Goddamnit! Why can't I suck anything?!'

'Maybe I should try to absorb the gem? I really don't know how to explain it, but I know how to do it,' Rio said, taking a bit of pride in that statement. 'I'd also like to mention that I call my power by its proper name, which might have something to do with it.'

Rio crossed their arms, gritting their teeth. Then, with an internal sigh, the voice said, 'Fine, but we won't have a lot of time to check whatever happens to you out entirely, don't wanna keep a lady waiting and all that.'

All of a sudden, Rio felt the weight of his body again, stumbling back. It felt like he was falling for a really long time, then just snapped right back into place. He… kinda thought it was fun. Sorta. In a surreal sort of way. "Whoa, alright, that's something…"

"Rio? The hell're ya doin'?" Minerva yawned, climbing up to the Lucario's shoulder. "I'm bored half to death, and ya zonin' out, hittin' rocks… Shit, I thought ya were givin' me the silent treatment."

"Oh, uh…" It probably wouldn't be smart to tell her he let the voice in his head take the wheel so… "I was just… focusing. Really hard. Didn't wanna fall and all that, not with you on my back."

Minerva blinked, then chuckled lightly. "That's sweet o' ya, Yellow, but I'd feel a whole lot safer if ya said somethin' every now an' then. Geez, thought I was holdin' onto a corpse or some shit, ya know?"

"S-Sorry, hehe…" Rio tittered, rubbing the back of his head. His ear flicked to the side, and his attention was brought back to the gem beside him. "Right, I was trying to s- absorb this gem. Might help keep me going."

Snickers left his Meowth companion, and Rio rolled his eyes. He placed his paw on the psychic gem again and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Electricity crackled around his body, and the gem started to glow. He exhaled, and that electricity dispersed. The glow of the gem slowly started to flow up his arms, a soothing, calming sensation compared to when he absorbed the electric gem all that time ago.

Minerva, suddenly, flicked Rio's nose with her tail. "Hey, uh, Rio? Somethin' don't feel right," she said, growling anxiously. "A-Are all these rocks gettin' higher… or..?"

'...WAIT SHIT!' the voice boomed in Rio's mind. 'STOP SUCKING, I REPEAT, STOP SUCKING!'

"Gah!" Rio exclaimed, holding his head. 'Stop calling it tha-'

'No time to argue, Rio! Just stop!'

"R-Rio, those rocks ain't gettin' higher!" Minerva yelled, quickly climbing down onto Rio's back. "Oh shit oh shit oh shit! Rio! W-We're falling!"

Oh no... Minerva spoke through her accent. Rio's eyes snapped to one of the nearby platforms. Th-They were… "Oh shit…" Rio felt everything in him sink. Fitting, all things considered. "O-Oh no…"

"Rio, do somethin'! Quickly!" Minerva pleaded, holding onto him tightly. "Jump! Move! Rio!"

Unfortunately… it was like Rio didn't hear her. All he heard was the blood rushing to his ears, his heart pounding against his chest… and the sound of the platform he stood on falling faster and faster.

'Let me in charge, quickly!' the voice demanded, and Rio suddenly himself falling back, but none of him really did. His body got down on all fours, a snarl on its face, and electricity crackling wildly around him. Every part of his body felt charged, brimming with energy and ready to burst.

Just before Rio could jump, the stone platform started to fall apart. Cracks and splintering stone split the stone into large pieces. Rio lost their footing for a moment, then looked back up to see the other platforms far higher than they should have been.

Minerva practically dug her claws into Rio's body, even wrapping her tail around them as much as possible. Her aura crackled and sparked around the both of them as she buried her face into their back. "C-Come on! Please! I can't… W-We can't…"

Rio quickly refocused on the platforms above, more electricity arcing off their body than before. Another deep breath, then, a massive burst of electricity as Rio shot upwards. It felt like they were going higher than ever before. The wind rushing past their fur, the sparks flying off their body, Minerva clinging on for dear life, that surge of electricity… If they weren't trying to save themselves from falling into an endless abyss, Rio would bask in this moment.

Instead, they reached for the platform before them. Any moment now they'd reach the edge, they'd have to be ready to pull themselves up.

'Just a bit further!' Rio shouted. Even if he couldn't move, he still tried to reach out towards safety.

'We're almost there!' the voice exclaimed. It was right there, so far away but so close, and they were still going up! Just a bit closer!

The edge was almost in reach; Rio's digit just barely brushed against it! Unfortunately, just as they thought they were in the clear, they started falling. The electricity around them started to fizzle out, and that fatigue from before seemed to double. Their body fell like a chunk of metal. They were so close… and yet the ledge was already so far.

Instead of panicking, Rio extended claws they didn't even know they had and latched onto the side of floating stone. They slid down the side of the platform, their claws cutting into stone and gem alike, almost reaching the end of the platform before they managed to stop.

'Rio… you're up. I can't… I can't keep control for much longer. Tell Minerva she might have to climb up without us,' the voice said, before Rio again felt the weight of himself. The feeling of being dragged down by weights had returned with a burning passion, it seemed. 'We can't waste any time here, hurry it up.'

It was weird, hearing the voice use a serious tone, but Rio did as he was told. "Minerva… you think you can get up there by yourself?"

"Already way ahead o' ya!" Minerva replied, already climbing up Rio's back and onto the floating stone. She looked back down at him, seeing his deadpan expression. "I'll, uh, stay nearby. Just in case."

'Nice to know you stick around good company, Rio,' the voice in his head groaned. 'Alright, whatever, you're already used to being tired and pushing on or whatever, so just do that. Oh, and do NOT absorb the gems. If those go out, so does the stone, and so do we.'

'Noted…' Rio nodded. Well this wasn't so bad, was it? All he had to do was climb, something he had never done before. With claws he just learned he had. On a magic floating rock that he could mess right up if he didn't focus entirely on not doing the one thing special about him.

...He hated this entirely.

"C'mon, Rio. It ain't as hard as it looks," Minerva said, having come back down to his side, much to his surprise. "It's like walkin' but… sideways. An' usin' every paw ya got, with lil stabby things on the ends!"

"That… isn't the main thing bothering me," Rio said. He hadn't moved an inch, not knowing which paw to move first. "...Ok, maybe it's one of the things, but not the main one. Just… get to the top before me."

Minerva shook her head, smiling. "Can't do that, I already looked like a dick once, I ain't lookin' like one again. I'm stayin' right by ya side."

"You care more about not looking like a dick than helping me make it up?" Rio scoffed, deadpanned.

"Keep up that attitude an' I just might stop givin' a shit," Minerva scoffed back. "Now, just do what I do. One paw before the other." She lifted one paw off the stone, raised it up, and stuck her claws into it again.

"O-Ok…" Rio, after some hesitation and trying not to think about falling, did the same. To a much lesser extent. "Ok… Yeah, ok..! This ain't that bad."

Minerva nodded, grinning proudly. "See? Now follow me, I'll go slow, but try an' keep up."

Rio scoffed. "Hey, I'm probably gonna get up there faster than y-" His claws slipped a bit, and he immediately locked up, shaking in fear. "Helpmehelpmehelpmehelpmehelpme!"

Before long, the tiny paw of a Meowth brought Rio back to his senses. Minerva was right beside him before he even realized it, holding his arm firmly, securely. "That's whatcha get for actin' all uppity an' shit. Take it easy, alright?"

Rio nodded, taking a deep breath before climbing up again. The two slowly made their ascent, one paw after the other. Digging into stone and gem wasn't the most fun thing to do, since it felt like Rio was biting into rocks but with his paws, but it could be worse.

About halfway up, Rio was able to keep pace with Minerva easily, the two side by side as they scaled the surprisingly-tall stone. It was feeling less like 'one slip up and that's it' for the both of them, and more like 'one slip up and the other will catch me, and then that's it.' Whether that was really an improvement didn't matter now, did it?

'Alright, this is good. Just don't jinx it,' the voice warned.

'Wouldn't that count as jinxing it?'

'No, because we're not saying it, we're thinking it. And by we I mean me. You're the one that shouldn't say anything.'

'That's fair but shut up anyway.'

With hardly any more stone left to climb, Rio and Minerva both let out a relieved sigh. "Th-This wasn't so bad, huh?" the Lucario chuckled, looking over at his friend and nodding up. "I'll be fine from here. But, uh… could you head up ahead and pull me up when I reach you?"

"If ya so sure 'bout it," Minerva nodded, climbing up the stone with just a few leaps. She leaned herself over the edge, a proud grin on her face. "Take ya time, but we don't got all day!" she called down.

"Alright, alright, I'll be there in an hour. That'll save us some daylight, right?" Rio huffed, grinning and rolling his eyes. Without Minerva beside him, he did climb a bit slower, but that was mostly him being cautious. He carefully put one paw before the other, looking up at Minerva every now and then to see how close he was getting.

"One paw in front o' the other, Rio," Minerva said, reassuring. "Ya got this!"

'No one's gonna judge you for going slow. Except me, but you already knew that,' the voice in his head joked. It being nonchalant and lax actually calmed Rio's nerves down a bit. But that didn't mean he wasn't gonna add it to the list of things to get back at the voice for.

A few more moments of silently climbing, and his friends encouraging him, and Rio finally reached the ledge. He could barely feel his arms, or his paws, or his claws, but other than that he was mostly fine. Rio looked up, being a few inches away from Minerva, and grinned. "K-Kept you waiting, huh?"

"Yea, I was thinkin' 'bout leavin'. Pops always said not to bother with guys that left ya hangin,'" Minerva huffed, grinning back.

"Then should I be leaving? I'm still dangling off the side of a rock," Rio replied, extending his paw to Minerva. She grabbed hold of him, that grin of hers getting bigger. "Wait be gen-" Before he even finished, Minerva yanked him up and dropped him on the ground behind her, knocking the wind and sparks out of him. "Why…"

Minerva snickered and went next to Rio's head, leaning over his face. "Happy now, smartass?"

"I-I'd be happier if I was able to breathe…" Rio coughed, grumbling to himself. "You don't have to try and break me to keep me around, you know."

"It's more fun to, though," Minerva hummed, then started poking Rio's head. "An' I know ya ain't down for the count, so hurry an' get up."

A loud, dramatic groan left the jackal as he rolled onto his stomach and propped himself up on his arms, pouting. "Why do you gotta be so pushy?"

"Why do ya let me push ya 'round so easily?" Minerva asked smugly. Rio didn't have a reply, so he huffed and stood back up. Minerva's smugness essentially doubled as she hopped back onto his shoulder. "That's what I thought."

'Aww, ain't that cute?' the voice in Rio's head said in a mockingly sweet tone. 'I'm getting a toothache with how sweet you both are to each other.'

'You're really trying to see how far you can go before I punch us both in the face,' Rio thought, deadpanned.

'That's a possibility, but if you two are done flirting-'

'I swear to god…'

'-I just wanted to point out that you're blue again! Look at us, nice and cerulean, ain't that swell?'

Rio looked over himself, genuinely surprised to see his normal, blue self again. He flexed his paws, already missing the sensation of electricity crackled in and around him. "Oh… aw, I'm blue again. I mean, no more trash talking, but I miss being zappy already."

"Damn, I kinda didn't notice," Minerva chuckled, patting Rio's head. "If ya want, I can shock ya 'till ya yellow again, Blue."

"I'd rather you didn't…" Rio deadpanned.

The voice loudly cleared its throat, causing Rio's ear to twitch. 'Oh, also, another important little thing. You got company.'

Rio went silent as his head swiveled around, facing one of the stones floating around him. His feelers started to rise as he shut his eyes. Everything just looked pink, just like the gems… but there was this odd, massive wall of dense aura. Trying to focus on it only made Rio feel cold and tired.

"What is…" Rio muttered, walking closer to his platform's edge.

"What's what? Ya sensin' somethin'?" Minerva whispered, the fur on her back standing up. "Shit, are we gonna have to fight here?"

"No… Maybe? I can't tell…" Rio whispered back. "I don't feel like we'll have to fight anything, but there's something big here. Really big… I think."

"Whaddya mean 'ya think?' Can't ya tell or not?" Minerva whisper-shouted into Rio's ear.

"Everything here is giving off the same energy! It's like trying to find a raspberry in a strawberry field!" Rio regular shouted back, rubbing his ear, then quickly shut his mouth. That dense aura started moving in on them. "Shit! It's coming!"

"Wh-What?!" Minerva exclaimed, then Rio covered her mouth and shushed her.

'Ho boy… that's a strong something,' the voice tittered. 'Best of luck, Rio, I'm sure you'll get us outta this just fine!'

"Wha- Goddamnit!" Rio growled, having his mouth covered by Minerva. The two had a muffled argument, probably about who was being louder and needed to shut up, but they could barely even hear each other so did it really even matter?

Suddenly a powerful hold came over them, breaking up their quiet shouting match as their bodies were engulfed in pink aura. Rio felt like he was going to vomit right then from the sudden influx of aura, gagging helplessly. And, unfortunately for Minerva, she couldn't move her paw no matter how hard she tried.

Soon after, a voice echoed from below, sounding so irritated and tired that, if he wasn't busy gagging, Rio wanted to console whoever it was before they even showed themself. "How is it that, inside a dungeon, locked off from the outside world, in one of the deepest, most secluded chambers… I have to experience loud, obnoxious, irritating sons of bitches twice in the same year?"

The first thing to come up from the platform's edge was a big, yellow… star looking thing, then a little white body. Old, tattered ribbons hung off of the star's three points. Two black, tired eyes stared at Rio and Minerva. The creature's arms were about the size of its body, which itself was smaller than its head. It had adorably stubby legs, and two streamers hung from its back. There was also this strange line on its belly, but hey, it looked good on whatever this thing was.

"Let me guess, another pair of braindead idiots that fell in and are trying to find their way out?" the creature asked, but neither Rio or Minerva could really answer it. Actually, Rio wasn't doing too well, almost on the verge of passing out. The hold around him was suffocating, both in it actually squeezing his already tired… everything, and in the aura overwhelming him. And Minerva's paw being stuck on his face wasn't helping him all that much either.

The star-headed creature didn't really seem to care, sighing and crossing its arms. "Hate to break it to you but you can't. Better get comfortable, hell's got more than enough room for all of us, and I don't care what you do with it."

With a wave of the creature's arm, the hold on Rio and Minerva disappeared. Both of them fell to the ground, with Rio struggling to breath. Minerva was by his side, saying something to him, but Rio couldn't hear a word she said. His head fell to the ground, managing to take a glance at the star-headed creature. It just stayed where it was, staring blankly back at him.

The last of his strength left his body; the exhaustion of being on his feet for hours and hours finally catching up to him as the adrenaline faded from his body. Rio's eyes shut as he quickly drifted off. For some reason, the stone felt simply divine.