I'd used an electric move. I wished I could've learned in on purpose... Now, all that faced me were my classmates, whose reactions ranged from mild surprise to outright anger. Points to Valérie for bringing the average up to unbearable heights. She'd thankfully calmed down after being repeatedly told it was an accident by everyone on the team.

The experience had left me drained and dazed, though those feelings could've also been from the cliff-jumping fiasco. I kept spacing in and out of the conversation, my scrambled brain having the same effect as a ringing in my ear.

Kieran kept arguing. "Yeah, I knew Emolga discharge electricity when they fly, but I thought it was a voluntary thing! It was in the goddamn presentation!"

"Gosh dang," Chloe muttered, barely above a whisper.

"Oh, buzz off," Kieran replied. A couple seconds passed before the giant bee realized what he'd said. "Yeah, yeah, I heard it too."

"Well, anyway..." I said in a low voice, "even if I can fly, I really can't do it now. I don't want to test it here."

With unstable ground, who knew which time I took off would be the last time I had anything to land back on? Even Chloe looked shaken by this place, as she hadn't flown since reaching our current platform.

"I don't know if you can actually fly," Kieran shrugged. "You're not a bird."

"But she is a Flying type!" Chloe protested.

"Depends on whether she can flap her wings fast enough," Lola chimed in. Usually a grating jokester, she did seem to bring up an actual point.

"She's a flying squirrel, though," Kieran insisted, rolling his eyes. "They're not supposed to do that."

"I'll take care of it!" Chloe snapped.

That outburst in particular caught the echo of the canyon. The phrase repeated itself, fading more with each iteration. We stood in horror, tense with the fear of it causing our current platform to fall. Chloe covered her beak with her wings and clenched her eyes shut. After an interminable few seconds, nothing happened. Everyone let out their respective sighs.

"What happened back there anyway?" Lola asked, bringing up the thought everyone had on their minds. "Earthquake?"

"That's a good question," Micheal continued. He walked nearer to the edge, observing the empty space the first platform occupied. Even though he was still a couple steps away from the cliff, his tail swished against the floor. "You guys think there was a trigger for that?"

There was a few seconds' worth of a pause. I jumped at the woefully rare occasion to jump in.

"Well, we can rule sound out. Maybe it's... time-wise?" I suggested. I didn't want to be the centre of attention again, but no one else was speaking up. Plus, I had to put up the wall again. That meant I had to show I was fine. Fake it until you make it, as they say. "Like, if we're on a platform long enough, it starts to fall."

An uneasy chill passed through the group. That was not a reassuring hypothesis. "That's a good theory," Micheal acknowledged, though the concept and the urgency it entailed must've gotten to him. He swallowed. "What else?"

"What else?" Valérie jumped in. The Meditite walked closer to Michael, getting right in the lion's face. "If that's the correct trigger, can we risk wasting time and finding out the hard way?"

Micheal looked back at her, pupils contracted and tail low on the ground. Man, it really was hard to hide feelings in animal bodies. He tilted his head to the side and considered her point, then shook his head.

"You're right. If there's any more theories, we can go through them while walking."

Valérie nodded and started her path to the next platform straight away. The rest naturally started to follow, without further argument. That was honestly kind of rare with this group.

You know, Valérie may be stubborn, but when she's got a good point, you get behind her.

I took a few steps forward, only for my ears to twitch, alerted by a new sound. For the first time since I'd landed, I noticed a soft cracking sound coming from the backpack. As I clenched my fists around the now brittle straps, my heart jumped in my chest. I took the backpack off and put it down to inspect it and its contents.

"What now—" Valérie called from several meters away. "Oh."

"It's breaking apart," I announced nervously. But what I thought were already bad news turned to worse.

I opened the top flap, it being as stiff and breakable as the rest of the backpack. It wasn't the fanciest thing in the world to begin with, but it hurt that I'd broken it. I'd Sparked it! Not to mention it was our only means of efficient food and medicine transportation. Speaking of... most of the berries were charred, each kind to various degrees. Thinner fruits hadn't survived beyond becoming charcoal. I usually liked to have at least one of each type of berry handy in case someone needed it, but thank God I didn't have any Chople berries in there. I'd seen them react to heat once and that was enough. It was kind of sad that the good news at the moment was that the backpack didn't explode. We'd come to have low standards.

"Valérie, a little help?" I asked. She was still the only other member of our group who had hands. "A lot of these are... fried, but we can, um, carry the rest."

"Fine," she answered. She walked to where I was sat and helped me dig and sort through the berries. When the bag had been emptied of food, we were left with only a few Oran berries, a couple Cheris and a single Persim.

That wasn't everything that was in the bag, though. I reached in the back and found the dozen pages or so that I'd picked up in the first level. They were thankfully intact. I sighed in relief as I took them out as well, knowing they'd be safer in my grip than inside the weak backpack. Valérie gave me some serious side-eye for carrying paper instead of the essentials she'd been saddled with, but she said nothing.

"We can eat those later. We'll need to keep our energy up," she announced. Then, she started to walk again. We slowly followed.

"Everyone, stay close," Micheal said. "If... if anything like that happens again, we need everyone within arm's reach."

Chloe, who was next to me, let out the tiniest gasp and clamped her wings to her sides. With the Swablu at my side starting to walk as well as she could, the group left off to advance.

I pushed the dry husk of the backpack off the ledge.

If my classmates swapped more theories, I didn't hear them. I guessed the timing theory was just unanimously accepted because it was the most urgent one.

I rubbed my fingers on the rough paper I was holding, it calming me somewhat. With everything happening, it was good that I found something I could use to stim.

It was odd seeing Chloe not floating around. She almost looked anxious at the thought of being grounded, giving some quick glances left and right occasionally. She'd started out walking, but Swablu legs were obviously very short, so she'd transitioned to hops to keep up.

"You did want to learn how to fly, right?" She piped up.

It took me a moment to answer. I hadn't hesitated because I didn't have an answer. I'd hesitated because my answer was no. That was a bad answer for a Flying type Pokémon.

But this Flying type was deadly afraid of heights.

"Sure", I said. "How's it work?"

Maybe I was afraid for nothing. It was far from the first time something like that had happened. Maybe I could calm myself down if I familiarized myself with the science of it all. God, I needed some distancing.

"Okay, hold out your wings like this," Chloe said, carefully mimicking a flying stance. I obliged, and she continued. "Great, what do you think you should do next?"

"Not die." Well, that slipped out.

"... That's a start," she encouraged, "but I meant physically."

"I don't know! You heard Kieran; flying squirrels don't fly! They glide! Even Emolga's explicitly stated to glide in the Pokédex." I knew that factoid from scrolling up and down said Pokédex for hours on end in my old copy of Pokémon White. If only it could've just stayed a time waster instead of valuable survival knowledge. "There's no way I can fly, even without the backpack!"

"Are you okay?" Chloe asked.

That surprised me, and I briefly stopped in my tracks. That tone was too concerned for my liking and I realized I'd had some kind of outburst. She'd stopped too, looking at me with a face matching her tone. Maybe my small rant was too heated. I changed the subject.

"Yeah. I am. Okay, um... I guess the tail should help for steering," I said, voice as stable as I could make it. Chloe's concerned face turned to confusion before she dropped the subject altogether.

"It looks like it," the Swablu said. "My tail feathers help with that too. Yours is bigger, though. Maybe it's also for weight balance."

I wanted to sigh with relief for dodging that question, but I couldn't do that. That's what the wall was. Once you shut off your means of expression, any that leaked through were deathly obvious. That last interaction showed it clear as day. I was cold, but not allowed to shiver. I was afraid but would do anything not to let it be shown, and I didn't know when it would stop.

I asked something to make for conversation, but really didn't want to. "What's flying feel like anyway?"

She hopped with excitement, as if she'd just learned she could fly right that second. "It's really fast. And fun! There's really no gravity while you're up there, just the wind."

I laughed, but my entire petrified mind was burning to tell her that sounded like the most terrifying thing ever. I caught some more instructions and surprisingly helpful advice about riding air currents, but soon enough my brain filtered everything around into muffled mush. Hiding fear was doing nothing. Ordering my body to stop feeling it did nothing.

Why did I have to be so stressed all the time? Why was it that the only change I got was just me becoming more stressed? Why did this keep happening when I did everything in my power to get this to stop?

It had to sometime, though, right? Someday, I would lay down and all my fears and anxieties would be done with. Someday, I wouldn't fall asleep thinking of everything I'd done wrong in the last three years. I'd just have a good rest, peaceful in the knowledge that I had nothing to do or worry about the next day. It would happen someday, eventually.

But why can't it be now? I thought, with the icy grip of despair tightening on my stomach.

The setting sun did nothing to boost the morale. It was a real shame, though, since it was one of the most gorgeous sunsets I'd ever seen. We were above the clouds, so nothing obstructed our view of the purples, pinks, and oranges that mixed and dappled themselves below. However, that beautiful, beautiful sight made my stomach clench with dread.

Night was coming.

Any other level, when it had been decided it was night, we'd stopped and slept. Shifts were implemented to cover for danger, but had frankly been kind of useless since we'd always run into hostile Pokémon while moving. Here, the lookout shifts might be vital. We didn't know when the floor would drop from under us. We didn't know what would cause it to do so. Worst of all, we didn't know if we could all wake up in time to get to the next platform.

We couldn't keep going, though, as scary as that was. Although most of us had had a good night's sleep last level, our brains were still recovering from being in an endless night in the middle of an eerie lake. That, plus the general stress of fighting for our lives, almost losing someone to poison because of pure stupidity, and— personally— having to deescalate an Absol's breakdown... it added up in exhaustion. Not to mention we'd slept on gravel. That was by far the least comfy terrain we'd had to sleep on here, and that was saying something. Hours later I still felt the imprints the small rocks left on my skin as I laid on top of them. Even though I feared the dreaded floor drop, the part of me dedicated to exhaustion admired the smooth stone under my feet and deemed it a mattress upgrade. I was casually debating myself in my mind over whether to trudge on or to just give up and sleep.

We wouldn't have much of a choice, though.

"Hey, Lola," Micheal called, "do you mind leading the group? Your night vision's better than mine."

The sun was touching the horizon by now, and I could see a few stars starting to dot the sky. We didn't have shadows anymore, as they'd melted into the gradual progression of the night.

"No can do, captain," the Absol sighed. "I didn't sleep much last night so my eyes are kinda scrambled."

Kieran pointed toward the front with his stinger. "We don't need night vision to see this."

We'd made it to the other side of our current platform. Some meters away, it sloped down at an angle that was a little steep for my liking. Then, it ended in the same gap as the last one, with another, higher platform for us to reach. To my dismay, not only was this gap larger than the first, but the slope made the liftoff point way lower than our landing target. Jumping was impossible for anything Emolga-sized; I'd have to hitch a ride on someone or fly. Chloe shot me an encouraging look, but I didn't share the feeling. I made sure my face didn't show it.

"I'm sure you'll do great," she said. "You already know how to move your wings too, so that's a plus."

"Yeah," I said, voice cracking. Shoot. My own voice, betraying me.

We could get one more group leap in for today. It made sense to do so too, as I was sure everyone would prefer go to sleep after a jump rather than before. Our group stood in front of the slope, no one daring to walk close to the cliff yet.

"Can everyone make that jump?" Micheal asked. "With a running start on that incline, we could all go at the same time."

"Chloe and me can just fly over there, so we're fine," Kieran answered. "Valérie's got super strength, so if she's not off guard this time, I think she can do it."

"I was not off guard!" The Meditite argued.

"And the dudes with four legs have added jumping power," Lola added, turning to Micheal. "We made it across last time, no problem."

... that only left one person. Me. The one who'd freaked out last time and almost didn't make it. The one who could barely fly to begin with. Not to mention, I'd nearly shocked everyone if Valérie was to be believed. Could I be trusted to go at the same time as the others if I could ruin their jump and make them fall? Maybe I'd have to go last. I might get about half a minute after they'd started to jump, like last time the platform started sinking.

Hold on.

"Wait!" I said. "The floor's not shaking yet."

"And?" Valérie asked. "It might soon."

"And, this might not be a timer. It might be a switch. You notice how last time, it only started to sink while we were jumping across?"

Micheal stepped toward me. "Okay, it's a difference, but how can we know for sure?"

"Weight test!" Chloe announced. "Valérie, do you mind throwing the berries to the other side?"

"From this far?" She hesitated, closing one eye and doing a couple practice throws, gauging the distance between us and the opposite side of the gap.

"If it's that much trouble..." Chloe mumbled. She landed on Valérie's shoulder and tried to reach for one of the berries she was carrying.

"Whatever we do, we have to make it fast," Micheal interjected. "We don't have much daylight left."

Chloe picked an Oran berry up with her talons and flew to the other side, dropping it from a low height. She then repeated the process with the rest of the lot. All the while, I kept my ears pricked, having them move around to pick up any trace of the sound I'd heard on the first platform. The ear movements were instinctive, though I didn't mind my new body deciding to help out when I needed it. I'd noticed that Micheal's ears sometimes flicked at sudden sounds, so I kept an eye on him too. As all the berries were placed on the other side, nothing happened. Chloe landed back with us, the whole thing having taken less than a minute.

Lola piped up. "Yo, so Gab was right? We can just stop as long as we're not in the middle of jumping the gap?"

"Well, the berries don't prove anything by themselves," Chloe said. "If anything, we just saved Valérie the worry of dropping them while jumping across."

"Appreciated," Valérie grunted.

"Yeah," I continued. "What it would take now is... something heavier. Just to confirm if the floor we're on starts falling right when someone lands on the next one."

"We better make it quick, then," Michael insisted, placing himself at the top of the slope. "We need to go while we can see where to jump. All together, then?"

That made me nervous. Yes, there was an advantage to jumping at the same time: everyone would get the best chance of making it across on their own, if our current theory was correct. However, it meant that if someone missed the cliff or had trouble hanging on to the ledge... no one would be ready to help them. After I barely made it last time, that wasn't a comforting feeling.

Maybe I could swallow my pride and ask Lola for a ride? Or hell, ask Valérie to throw me across? Or would that hinder them? Chloe and Kieran for sure couldn't carry a lot of extra weight while flying anyway.

Chloe must've sensed my emotional state. "You'll do great!" She quietly reaffirmed, patting me on the back with her wing.

Unfortunately, I didn't expect that. The overgrown tension I was feeling surged out through my cheeks, and I heard a faint buzz.

"Ow!" Chloe exclaimed.

At the shock, she dropped to the ground, shaking it off a couple seconds later. Valérie shot me a questioning look which I could only interpret as her saying :"Really? Again with the friendly fire?"

I gasped, and felt my ears droop. "I'm so sorry!" I said to Chloe.

"I'm fine," she insisted, feathers still ruffled but no stray streaks of electricity on her. "I'm a lot more surprised than hurt!"

The Swablu, being the only one here with a type disadvantage against Electric, was the worst volunteer to showcase what an accidental shock could do. It was very lucky that I hadn't paralyzed her as well, since the Cheri berries had been lobbed over the pit. The furtive glances I saw being exchanged didn't inspire my confidence in their trust.

I'd only delayed the inevitable. I couldn't be carried. I'd bring others down with me. I would have to go across on my own.

"What if that happens when we're crossing?" Valérie brought up. "I don't want to trip!"

My goodness, she really wasn't over what happened earlier today. However, noticing further glances from my classmates, along with some mumbled agreements, it seemed the Meditite had made a point. Only one person looked like they didn't care.

"We need to cross now!" Micheal snapped, shutting us up for a bit. He huffed and his ear flicked. "It's hard for me to tell when it'll be too dark for you guys to cross, with the new night vision and all... I want this over with already! Kieran, Lola, Valérie, Chloe and I, we go on three. And then..."

"... And then I come dead last?" I mumbled.

"You have Quick Attack!" Kieran said. "If anyone's got a shot at a running jump, it's you!"

That seemed to settle it. I didn't have it in me to argue anyway. It had been a long enough day already. I just didn't have any spoons left.

"Yeah, I'll be fine", I said.

Soon after, the gang readied themselves for the sprint. The sun had gone under the horizon line. If we'd done this ten minutes later, it would've been too dark to attempt it, and we would've spent the whole night on this side waiting for the floor to sink.

I stood at the top of the slope, waiting for everyone to do their leap. Though they'd started at the same time, they ran at different speeds and their jumps were staggered. Lola was the first across, landing at least a few feet past the ledge. Then came Micheal, and Chloe flew to his side. Kieran stuck close to Valérie while he flew, and she did better than her last time across. After they both landed safely on the other side, all eyes went to me.

Then I heard the rumble again. The platform started to shake faster than the other one, throwing me off. I couldn't hide my panic as everyone else showed theirs. Now was the time to jump or never.

I rolled up the notes into a cylinder and held them in my mouth, then dropped on all fours, the position I'd instinctively used Quick Attack with in the last level. I wasn't used to it, but it wasn't as if I could hope to do this on two stubby Emolga legs. I ran down the slope. Past the halfway mark, I realized something terrible.

Quick Attack wasn't starting.

I had to break my sprint two feet away from the cliff, looking up to my group's horrified faces. I would've never made it running at that speed. I ran back up and felt a strong lurch from the ground as it went down a few feet. It stopped falling, but was still rumbling.

I ran back up and tried my best to focus on Quick Attack. I was the first person to use a move in the first level! Why was this so hard when it mattered?

Oh, yeah, all I had to do was use the move I'd only done once.

My mind rushed through move theory, the yells of my friends drowned out through the noise and wall I'd put up. Flash, Tail Whip, and Quick Attack had felt like I'd unlocked some forgotten muscle memory when I'd used them. It was just something my body knew how to do; I had to find the corner of my mind that would let it. However, Spark was different! It was just let out without any warning or use for it! Did that throw out everything I thought I knew?

Another lurch downward. Time to change tactics.

Think about anything else. Something nice?

What did I like? Uh...I loved cold food. Sometimes it was that simple of a thing that I missed. I liked ice cream, I chewed ice often... I even put grapes in the freezer to eat during homework. Being an Ice type would've been a grace. Hell, I would've taken Snover if I had a choice. It would've meant my circuits not overheating. And maybe I could make the occasional frozen berry. That would've been nice.

What the hell am I wasting thought on!? This isn't helping!

Time was slipping by as I lamented myself. Obviously, this was to be done by focusing on the task at hand. Jump across the cliff and land safely with everyone. But it was scary and intense and dangerous to me and others! Though, not as dangerous as certain death. That sobered me up.

I tried again, hoping, praying for the Quick Attack. Two thirds down the slope, tears were gathering in my eyes and my vision blurred. No dice. I barely stopped myself before the gap, feeling empty air under my hands. I looked up, the second platform towering over me. If I thought this was hard before the platform lowered...

I was back up the slope. Third time was the charm. I lowered myself to all fours again, my shaking hands stabilizing once weight was put on them. I tried to let my body and instincts do the work. My tail went up straight. There was a faint light and crackling sound coming from my cheeks. It wasn't as intense as Flash, but the contrast in brightness I saw made me realize how dark it was getting. I ran back down.

Halfway down, no rush of speed. Two thirds down, still nothing. Down at the bottom...

I went backwards.

Or, more accurately, something bit down at the scruff of my neck and yanked me away from the gap, running with me back at the top. At some point, my mouth let go of the notes, but I was too jittery to focus on it. We swivelled to face the gap again, and I registered the Pokémon on the other side for the first time in minutes. Everyone was still there, except—

Lola sprinted down the slope, and exhaled in anticipation for the daunting cliff. I let out a sob and covered my eyes, unable to look at how much higher it was than us. Claws slid on the smooth stone with a scratching sound. I felt her fangs' grip tighten, and then... silence. A jump that felt like an eternity.

We tumbled on the other side, and I didn't open my eyes until we had completely stopped. Lola let go of me. I looked around. The sky was a rich dark blue. The stars were out. The floor was stable at last.

The Absol was panting as hard as I was, though she didn't have a hot streak of tears going down her face. She looked to me with concern. In my stupor, all I could manage was gesture to her.

"You... you..."

Lola grinned. "Yup, that sure is me. You're quite observant."

The remainder of my panic vanished with my laughter. "Oh, shut up. You saved me. Thank you."

I wiped my tears while Valérie approached us, as did the rest of the group. I saw her hand hover around my back, about to pat it, but stopping.

"I think that I'm... too drained for a shock right now," I sighed.

That did it. Pat pat. It was mechanical, and she backed away immediately. The others gathered around.

"That was horrible to watch," Valérie said flatly. Woah, thanks for the reassurance.

"You said it!" Kieran exclaimed. He looked really pale.

"Seriously, if you need a moment..." Micheal suggested. "I guess we're about to set camp anyway. There's not much of one to set up to begin with."

"I'm fine," I said. Hopefully that was believable enough.

"That's the spirit!" Chloe cheered. She'd started to push all the berries further away from the edge.

The berries! That reminded me of the unfortunate fate of the notes. I looked downwind, on the left side of the platform. Some pages were still thrown about by the breeze, still visible in the clouds because of their yellow hue. Though it was a blow, I just couldn't bring myself to be any sadder. I glanced at where the old platform was. It had sunk into the clouds.

With the loss of the notes, and the backpack... after we were done eating in the morning, we'd be traveling with nothing left. Though we were on our fourth level and had a slightly more solid grasp on our Pokémon bodies, we'd be back at the start.

I looked to Lola. She hadn't said anything else, but followed my gaze when I was looking at the platform. She blew a puff of air at the strand of hair that always dropped down on the left side of an Absol's face.

"I didn't take Absols to be especially good jumpers," I admitted.

"If I'm not supposed to be good at this, I've got to be amazing at whatever Absols are good at," she chuckled. "Like, uh... the disaster thing? Or, uh... dark type stuff."

"Immunity to Psychic type," I said quietly. "That's a neat talent."

"I'll be your amazing shield against psychics, then."

We slept in a huddle in the dead center of the platform width-wise, with a few meters between us and the cliff we'd come from. Even loner Kieran had placed himself closer than usual, though it wasn't too close, considering he still had to work on controlling the poison in his stingers. The rest of us almost made contact when settling down on our spots. It was so much of a relief that we knew we could sleep without falling that we almost forgot to assign watch shifts. Almost. I got the last shift, but since Chloe, my usual partner, felt like staying up, she swapped with Lola and did the first shift with Valérie.

Unfortunately, my sleep that night was terrible. I kept waking up with a start every so often.

I didn't tend to dream much, even when the reality around us constantly rewrote itself. New imagery did nothing to change this, and my sleep was quiet and colourless nearly every night. When I did have dreams, though, it was like my mind finally gave into my subconscious battering at the door. It overcompensated, making everything vivid beyond belief.

I was piloting a plane as my human self. I'd been in there for what seemed like years, always afloat in the atmosphere, never needing to refuel or eat. The sky was lonely day and night, and I couldn't see any other life forms anywhere. I was stuck high above with the clouds.

One day, I saw something that made me jump for joy: plane tracks! Before me laid tens of crisscrossing cloud lines, a sign that something other than me had been in the sky as well. I grabbed my communicator and sent out a message, but got no response. After that, I went to find whoever the tracks belonged to.

What sucks most about dreams is that they control how you feel about them. I could've imagined finding who was on the other end of the line, but my gut feeling as I woke up informed me that I would never have. Because even though I was hopeful and looking for help, the tracks were my own. I'd just be looking for myself in an eternal circle. So I guessed I'd have to land where the people were.

Waking up every morning for the past two weeks had been the same experience. I'd open my eyes only to close them again, making sure to remind myself of the situation. I'd had to refamiliarize myself with my own body every morning. Instead five fingers on each hand, I'd feel four. I'd remember my arms couldn't reach all the way up anymore because of the winglets connecting them with my hips. I'd feel a twitch in my huge ears from the sound of someone shifting next to me. After recounting the events and still refusing to believe them, I'd open my eyes again.

I didn't know if it was an exercise in grounding myself, or one to remind me that even shutting out my sight wouldn't let me escape the reality of the situation.