"...Hm?" Rio woke up to something rocking him gently, and the sound of waves hitting whatever was below him. He lifted himself up, feeling the roughness of wood as he got off the floor. The sun was shining brightly, impairing his vision for a moment. "Am I... on a boat?"
"Yep!" A familiar voice said from behind him. "It's my own ship, believe it or not! Classy, ain't she?"
"Oh, it's you again..." Rio said, but was having trouble thinking of why. This Lucario was... sort of familiar, but not so much so that you could say that immediately, right? Lucario was steering the ship, a captain's hat laid precariously on one ear, more like a toy than the real thing, actually. With a look like that, how could anyone forget him?
"Really? Again?" Lucario sighed. "What, you got amnesia or something kid? After all we've been through..." He pretended to sniffle, wiping his eye when there was nothing there to wipe.
"We've met like, twice! What're you acting so…" Rio blinked, having realized that he might actually have met this guy before.
Lucario snickered and flicked the rim of his hat. "Thar we go, matey! Shiver me timbers an' batten down me hatches!" he exclaimed with a god-awful pirate voice.
"Please, don't use that accent..." Rio groaned. "Where are we headed, anyway?"
"Yar, matey! That be no way to speak to yer Cap'n!" the jackal tossed a fruit at Rio, thonking him on his head. "Where be yer pirate spirit?"
Rio let out a sigh, not wanting to deal with this nonsense. "Sir, where in the open seas shall we be voyagin' to?" he said, lacking energy.
Regardless of Rio's minimal enthusiasm, Lucario let out a hardy laugh and grinned from ear to ear. "That be the speech o' a true pirate matey! Yar har har!" he cheered. "We be searchin' for Sunset Isle, a wee ol' island with treasure a'plenty!"
"Sunset Isle..? Don't you mean Sunset Valley?" Rio asked, looking over the side of the ship. "Hold on, weren't we in a forest last time? What happened to that?"
"Oh, ye be dwellin' in the past, landlubber! That 'venture be ages past, ye see! And here be the spoils of such a quest!" the jackal grabbed a chest beside him and threw it over to Rio. It opened as it landed, revealing a green flame-like orb within. "That be yer prize, matey. A token o' yer accomplishment."
Rio reached in and grabbed the orb, holding it up. It shimmered in the sunlight, having a bluish hue when he raised it up. Green and blue, a nice combination. It was warm in Rio's grasp, and it felt rather important too. "What is it?"
"Why, it be somethin' o' great value to ye, matey! An item like no other, more valuable than any treasure in these here seas!" Lucario explained without actually saying what it was. "But alas, that item o' yers ain't in the best shape. It'll hardly recognize ye in both o' yers current shapes."
"Both of 'us'?" Rio looked back at the jackal, not commenting on the pirate jacket he suddenly had on. "You mean me and this orb thing? It looks fine to me."
"Well, 'course it looks all fine 'n dandy to ye, yer both incomplete!" Lucario said, giving another hardy laugh. "That be the reason we be headin' to Sunset! There's somethin' on that there island that ye need acquire, an' I oh so graciously took the time outta me afterlife to help ye find it!"
"Oh, thanks, I gue-" Rio had to mentally back up a bit. "Time of your afterlife? As in, you're dead?"
Lucario froze up, muttering something under his breath before jumping over the helm and wrapping an arm over Rio's shoulder. "Welp, looks like I said too much, didn't I? Hehe," the jackal chuckled, thankfully back to his normal voice. "I always was bad at keeping my mouth shut, like a Magikarp. Those things almost never close that gaping mouth if theirs."
The island the ship was heading to was in sight now; a sky-piercing mountain, lush forests, clean sandy beaches, that was in fact, Sunset Valley. But with Lucario not steering the ship, how were they gonna stop? Rio turned to the jackal and was about to ask if they could slow down at least, but was interrupted by the "captain" yelling orders to... someone?
"FULL SPEED AHEAD!" Lucario shouted, and the ship suddenly lurched forward, gaining an incredible boost in speed.
"H-Hey, what are you doing?" Rio nervously asked, watching the island grow larger as they sped towards it.
"I be doin' me job, matey! Yar har!" Lucario replied, holding Rio tighter.
"Pirates don't go 'yar har', but more importantly, we're going to CRASH!" Rio yelled, unable to pry himself away from this maniac. "You're gonna get us both killed!"
"And here I be thinkin' ye was a smartass! Ship's don' crash into isles, they wreck, matey!" The terrible excuse for a pirate explained. "And besides, I already be dead, so I got nothin' to worry about! Tell ye what, I'll even take care o' yer precious treasure while yer gone! Yar har har!"
The ship was barreling towards the shore, getting faster and faster, almost leaping into the air whenever a wave washed under them. This was bad. Rio doubted the ship would be fine if it hit the shore, let alone himself! He still wasn't able to break free of Lucario's grip, so he braced himself as much as he could. They'd be hitting the shore any second. Rio shut his eyes so he couldn't see, too scared to face the island when they wrecked.
"Aaaaaaaaand... STOP!" Lucario shouted, and the boat immediately halted. He let go of Rio seconds prior to his order, sending the Outlander flying forward.
"Wha-WHAT THE HEEEEEELL?!" Rio shouted, seeing the Lucario wave innocently at him as he flew. His body felt weightless, soaring helplessly in the salty air. He kept trying to grab something, but what was there to grab?
"Have fuuuuuuuuuun~!" Lucario laughed. "Try not to get too mad, it was just a joke!"
"J-JUST A JO-!" The water felt like a wall from how hard Rio hit it, stung like hell too. The pain wasn't too much, but for some reason it made Rio drowsy. He tried not to fall asleep while under the waves but… he couldn't surface for some reason. Before long, he passed out...
Rio woke up to a wave crashing down on him and pulling him out to sea a bit. As he tried to stand, the weak sand under his paws was swept into the ocean by the pull of the water, toppling the Lucario over. He was in chest high water before he was able to finally stabilize himself and breath. Groggy and soaked with saltwater, it took Rio a minute to get back to shore. Waiting to greet the Outlander was Minerva, laughing her head off, and Kora, failing to stifle his own laughter.
"Gee guys, way to help me not drown while I'm sleeping!" Rio huffed, shaking sand and water from his fur.
"To be f-fair, I was about to go in before you got yourself up. After like, the tenth flip I thought something was wrong!" Kora said, not convincing Rio.
In response, Rio took off his weights, grabbed Kora's arm, lifted him over his head and threw him as far into the water as he could. The fox landed in about knee high water, surprisingly. Minerva stopped her laughter the moment Kora hit the water. Rio then gave Minerva a sinister smile.
"H-hey Rio, buddy, pal, friend o' mine! What say we, uhh..." Minerva backed away from Rio, but he dove for her. Rio held her above his head and chucked her right at Kora. The two collided and fell into the water. A little while later, a sandy, red bush and white, wet clump of fur washed up on shore.
"Do ya feel better, blue?" Minerva asked sarcastically, shaking sand and water from her fur.
Rio shrugged. "A little bit. Maybe I should do it again, you know, for good measure?" he said with a grin.
"It's gonna take me ages to get all the sand outta my fur, if you throw me in again I can call myself a ground type," Kora snickered.
"Now that we've each been thoroughly soaked in sand and saltwater, shouldn't we probably head back to Zeke and the others? I don't think they know we found Kora yet," Rio said.
"Speakin of findin' Kora, what happened to Eva and her asshole friend?" Minerva asked, knocking some sand out of her ear.
"Kane left and Eva followed him right after you guys went to sleep. Why does it matter?" Kora said, shaking his entire body.
"I'm just askin'. I don't like either of 'em that much, but that doesn't mean I don't wanna know if they're alright. Well, I really don't care if one of them is alright, but it's a courtesy or somethin' like that," Minerva replied. After getting as much sand and water off of themselves as possible, they three set out to find their mentors.
The trio went back to Sunset Square, chatting about how their first few days of training went. Minerva bragged about how she was able to lift Nate overhead with ease, Rio went on about his knowledge of Pokémon types and how much more fit he already was, and Kora groaned about how hungry he was.
"I feel like I haven't eaten in days... My stomach's killing me!" The Zoroark complained.
"Do ya think the Bakery's open? Maybe we can get the twerp a pie before he starts whinin'." Minerva suggested. As the group arrived at the square and entered the Bakery tent, they were surprised to see Nate and Zeke walking out at the same time with crumbs on their faces and several goody-bags in their claws. The two mentors froze, seeing the anger grow in the feline and canine.
"What the hell-" Rio growled, clenching his paws and gritting his teeth.
"-are the the two of ya doin' eatin' PASTRIES!?" Minerva barked, absolutely furious.
"Alright have fun." Kora stepped inside, not wanting anything to do with what was about to happen.
"We spent all morning trying to find Kora, and the second we get back you both are stuffing your FACES?!" Rio and Minerva yelled.
Nate stuttered and stammered but couldn't get any words out, while Zeke tried to keep his cool and respond. "W-we, uh, we figured out that the two of you already found Kora, s-so we wanted to buy you guys s-some pies to celebrate! Right, Nate?" Zeke said, nudging Nate with his elbow.
Nate frantically nodded his head, staying behind the Blaziken where he thought he would be safe. "Y-Y-Yeah! These are for you guys!" the Feraligtr spat out, handing one of the bags over to the literally-on-fire Pokémon in front of him. Unfortunately, Rio and Minerva didn't believe it for a second. Instead of reaching for the bag, Minerva grabbed Nate's arm tightly and lifted him over her head, and Rio held Zeke in place.
"W-Wait! We aren't lying, these are for you guys!" Zeke exclaimed, unable to free himself from Rio's hold. Kora stepped to the side when his friends walked out, waving hello to the two older Pokémon above them.
"P-Please don't hurt us! We're sorry!" Nate begged.
"Oh, you're gonna be! Honestly, the both of ya really piss me off!" Minerva shouted, throwing Nate as far above her as she could.
"How could the both of you be so lazy?! I bet you didn't even look for Kora!" Rio growled.
"N-No we did! Rio you gotta believe me!" Zeke said fearfully. Rio handed the bird to Minerva, who gladly threw him skywards with the gator, dusting her hands off and grinning proudly.
It didn't take long for them to crash into the dirt, face down and unconscious. The goody-bags landed soon after, with their contents being mostly crushed, or at the very least smooshed. It's fair to say that the pastries were more well off than their buyers, however.
Kora peaked his head out the bakery as Nate and Zeke hit the ground. "R-Remind me to never piss the both of you off at the same time," Kora ,chuckled, taking a few of the goody-bags and sitting beside the fallen Pokémon. Minerva and Rio, now much more calm, decided to do the same.
"If tellin' ya not to piss me off worked, it wouldn't be the real you. It's one of the things you're best at, twerp," Minerva said, happily eating some demolished Pecha Berry Pie.
While the trio ate their fill, Rio realized that someone was oddly absent throughout the day. He couldn't put his finger on it, but the Outlander knew that something or someone was missing. "It might just be me, but isn't there supposed to be... someone else here too?" Rio asked, swallowing the last of his crushed pastries.
Kora and Minerva thought for a minute, finishing whatever they had in their mouths, before they replied. "Now that ya mention it... where's the Muscle Head?" Minerva stood up and dusted the crumbs and dust from her body as she spoke.
Each of the still conscious Pokémon sighed deeply and got to their feet. For their day off of training, Minerva and Rio were doing a whole lotta of things and hardly any of them were relaxing. Before they left to find Jax, Rio made sure that Zeke and Nate were still breathing. Carefully pulling the Pokemon out of the ground and laying them on their backs, Rio was greeted to the both of them snoring. Somehow, no one was surprised.
With no idea where Jax could have gone, and also not having any drive left to actually look, Rio and Minerva suggested that they head towards the Springs to see if he was taking a break from his search. He has been looking for his trainee for almost two days now, surely he would take a break every now and then.
"It honestly sounds like you guys just wanna go to springs to relax yourselves," Kora sighed.
"Whaaaaat? Of course not," Minerva said, waving Kora off.
"He's been looking for you the longest, why wouldn't he rest up here? It's so warm, and soothing…" Rio added, wagging his tail at the thought.
"And usually ya ain't gotta worry 'bout fightin' nobody," Minerva nodded.
Minerva and Rio's serious act didn't last long. The moment they felt the heat coming from the springs, the jackal and cat nearly melted. Kora groaned, shaking his head.
Only moments away from the paradise of the springs the group stopped. There was a lot of commotion coming from the springs: water splashing and the sound of attacks clashing. The feline groaned, a fight being the last thing she wanted or needed now.
"Can't we have a day where someone isn't fightin' someone else? I'm gettin' tired of all these fights!" She complained, promptly getting shushed by Rio and Kora. As quietly as possible, the three snuck into one of the bushes near the Springs. Sure enough, a fight was going on, much to Minerva's dismay.
The first fighter was Zen, the other Pokémon that was absent from today. The second was a Pokémon none of the three had seen before. It was a mouse looking Pokémon with soft, yellow fur, long ears, and a tail in the shape of a lightning bolt with a heart on the end. Oh what a mysterious Pokémon, how would anyone possibly figure out what it is? On a different note, Jax was laying on the ground with sparks of electricity flying off of him. It's not easy to say if this was a stroke of good or bad luck, or both.
"Ok, so I guess you two were right after al,." Kora admitted, watching the fight between Zen and the Pikachu. "Think we gotta give 'im a hand?"
"Why not? The sooner this fight ends, the sooner we get into those heavenly springs!" Rio replied, a confident grin on his snout. The trio were about to exit the bush when they heard a loud, painful scream. They ducked back down and saw Zen on the floor, struggling to stand up.
"It's a shame, Bisharp. You've got some power behind your attacks, but I guess there's only so much you can do with such slow attacks," Pikachu said, sparking as she approached the kneeling Pokémon.
"M-My name is Zen," the Bisharp growled.
"I don't remember asking for a name. Maybe you would've heard what I said if you weren't standing on such a high horse," The Pikachu stated.
"Bite me," Zen spat.
"Maybe if you played nice," Pikachu chuckled. An electric aura formed around her, the sudden static in the air even reaching Rio and the others.
His body moved on its own, and Rio quickly got between the two fighting Pokémon stuck his right arm out at the Pikachu. "Leave him alone," Rio said firmly. Zen chuckled and fell to the side, getting caught in Kora's arms.
Pikachu glared at Rio for interrupting her attack. "Looks like the cavalry arrived in the nick of time," she said. Something about her was not sitting well with Rio. He kept quiet, ready to fight. Pikachu laughed at Rio's demeanor. "Why so tense, kid? He isn't your friend or anything, is he? Maybe you're here for the big guy over there?"
"The only thing I'm here to do is defeat you for beating my friends." Rio's tone surprised everyone that heard it, including himself.
Pikachu frowned, her electric aura crackling further off her body. "Yeah, I can tell you're buddy-buddy with that Bisharp. Why don't we get this over with so I can send you both into shock."
Rio let out a light growl, then smirked. "Sure got a lotta bark for someone your size. Let's see how your bite measures up to it."
"I hate you both," Minerva sighed. Kora, instead, was snickering to himself.
Pikachu fired a Thunderbolt at Rio, striking his raised arm and fizzling into it, granting Rio a faint electric glow. The rodent kept her distance, surprised at how he took the attack without flinching. "Hmph," Pikachu backed off a bit. "That's never happened before."
"You sure you aren't of Zen's friends yourself? You sound just like him," Rio grinned. With a sudden burst of speed, Rio charged forward and thrusting his palm downwards, just barely missing his foe. His attack was strong enough to leave an imprint of his paw in the stone floor. Rio was able to recover from his attack quick enough to get another attack out, a swift kick that grazed the Pikachu's side. She took a leap back, landing a good distance away from Rio.
"Dark Pulse!" A weakened voice said, followed by said attack slamming into the Pikachu as she touched the ground. Zen was panting heavily, but still had an air of confidence around him.
"Sneaky bastard. Here I thought you had enough electricity in you to make you an Electric type!" Pikachu groaned, rubbing her side. "Four against one? I knew you lot were arrogant, but cheaters?" she chuckled.
"You just don't meet the height requirement for extra teammates," Rio said. ready to strike again.
Pikachu gritted her teeth and got on all fours, her aura crackling violently around her. "That would be funny except for the fact that it absolutely isn't," she said.
In an instant Pikachu Volt Tackled Zen, knocking him into Kora and shocking them both. Rio tried attacking her again, thrusting his palm out to hit her, but the mouse dodged the attack easily. Before he could move again, the Pikachu grabbed his arm and threw him at Kora and Zen.
As soon as the mouse's back was turned, Minerva grabbed her tail and started spinning her around before throwing her up above the trees. The group tried to get themselves back together before their opponent landed, but they must have forgotten that they're fighting an Electric Pokémon with long-ranged attacks.
With little notice, the four on the ground were battered with Thunderbolts from above. The assault knocked Zen out of the fight, the paralysis being too much for him. After landing again, Pikachu quickly tackled Minerva and fired another Thunderbolt at Kora. Rio was fast enough to block the attack for Kora.
"Thanks," Kora nodded. "Actually, I need you for a second."
Rio paused for a moment, keeping his eyes on Pikachu. "Uh, sure, what do you have in mind?"
"Just wait a sec," Kora snickered. "Oh, what's your stance on being a spring board?"
"...What?"
Minerva was able to nearly match Pikachu's speed, keeping her distracted. The dashed and traded attacks all across the springs. Well, it was more Minerva trying to hit Pikachu, and Pikachu evading everything Minerva threw out. Minerva tried to attack low, causing Pikachu to jump above her.
"Missed again!" Pikachu snickered.
"Nah, not really," Minerva winked, pointing above them. Kora was above Pikachu, dark energy concentrated in his paws.
"Dark pulse!" Kora fired the attack at Pikachu. It was too wide to dodge, and with Pikachu being airborne, she couldn't have anyway.
"Thunderbolt!" Pikachu quickly fired a powerful Thunderbolt, which exploded on impact with the dark pulse. A cloud of smoke blurred Kora's vision. "Iron tail!" Pikachu's iron-clad tail sliced through the smoke, striking Kora in the side and sending him back to the ground.
"Phew! Y'all are a pretty great workout. Maybe I should come around here more often!" Pikachu mocked the three, but only really irritated Rio.
Rio charged down the mouse, slamming his arm downwards. When his opponent predictably jumped to the left to dodge, Rio pushed off the ground to hit the Pikachu with his back, stunning her for a moment. Minerva jumped over Rio and slashed at Pikachu, sending her towards the springs.
"How's this for a workout? Incinerate!" Kora slammed the mouse with a bolt of fire. As the smoke cleared, much to Kora's dismay, Pikachu was mostly unaffected.
"I dunno, kid. That was more of a massage," Pikachu yawned, stretching her arms and back. Kora growled and pounced at the Pikachu, but got hit with a Thunderbolt at point-blank range. The electricity was strong enough on its own, but Kora's water soaked fur made it soooo much worse.
"Kora!" Minerva and Rio yelled, rushing to Kora's side.
"Thunderbolt!" Pikachu hit Minerva with a Thunderbolt, sending the cat back several feet. For Rio, the Pikachu struck his head directly with a few Thunderbolts. Rio stepped back, clutching his head and sucking his teeth.
"Iron Tail!" Pikachu struck Rio in the side of his head with her iron encased tail. Rio's body crashed into Kora's in the spring.
"It's about time we finished this massage session then. Thunder!" Pikachu said, raising both arms to the sky. A menacing, dark grey cloud appeared above the spring, overflowing with electricity. Kora and Rio started to panic, failing to get out of the water before the thunder dropped.
"No, stop!" Minerva shouted, sprinting over to the spring and leaping above Kora and Rio. Whatever her plan was, Minerva ended up struck with the full force of the attack before falling into the water. Sparks danced off her motionless body, trailing along the water's surface and up Kora and Rio's fur.
"And then there was two," Pikachu said, cracking her knuckles. Rio and Kora ignored her, lifting Minerva out of the water and placing her near Jax. The two paused for a moment before turning to the Pikachu.
"How could you..." Rio growled coldly, clenching his fists.
"You hurt her..." Kora hissed. A menacing black aura started emanating from Kora and Rio.
Where Pikachu would have sent some snide remark, she instead tensed up and remained silent. She didn't have to be a genius to tell something was up. The first attack was Kora. An insane burst of speed and razor sharp claws nearly tore her asunder.
Kora skid across the ground having missed his target. He snapped back around and lunged towards Pikachu, aiming to bite down on her. Pikachu managed to catch and hold Kora's maw open, a surprise coming from someone her size.
"The hell got into you?" A Thunderbolt blasted Kora in his maw, dispelling his dark aura as he fell to the ground, unconscious. "Any faster and I might not have caught that." She dusted off her paws and turned to Rio. He was standing there, staring at her.
"Well, Rio, I have to admit, you're definitely something else. You're barely able to use aura, and yet you've managed to survive a fight with Zen and this one against me," Pikachu said, her aura crackling around her.
"..." Rio blinked, utterly silent.
"Hmph, figured. Silent fury and all that," Pikachu shook her head. "I'll get you out of this before long, don't you worry."
Rio suddenly dashed forward and thrusted his palms forward. His attack was met with an iron-clad tail. Another thrust of his palm, another Iron Tail to deflect it. Rio growled, angrily throwing out attacks. Each one was blocked or dodged by the target of his anger.
"Damn, you're getting ahead of yourself," Pikachu hissed, trying to ignore the stinging sensation in her tail. Rio dove in to strike her again. This time he was grabbed and locked in place.
"Discharge!" A vast, potent burst of electricity erupted from Pikachu. Rio let out a sharp, painful cry as he was shocked down to his core. His eyes whited out as the dark aura vanished, and Pikachu let him fall to the ground. Pikachu let out a sigh, dusting off her paws. "If I didn't play around I might've been in danger once or twice." Pikachu turned to leave, but her ear twitched as she heard a voice speak.
"Wha-t happ-ened..?" Rio's voice was heavily strained. He was barely able to lift his head up a few inches; the paralysis was far too great and he had to drop back down. "Whe-re are y-ou go-ing..?"
"I'm busy, if you would believe it," Pikachu said. "But I'll be seeing you and your friends soon."
"W-Wait..." Rio was losing consciousness, his eyelids grew heavy and his body started to flat out ignore his orders to move. "G-God-damn... it..." he muttered as his body gave in and he finally blacked out.
Kora was the first one awake, confused about how he had gotten here. All he remembered was some fight in the springs, and Minerva getting hit. He tried to stand, but his injuries got the better of him.
"Mngh…" Kora groaned, forcing himself up. He noticed Zen, Jax, and his two friends nearby. They were all unconscious and sparking, but still very much alive.
Taking a look around, Kora realized they weren't even at the springs anymore. He thought that Zeke and Nate had brought them here, but wasn't entirely sure about that. The only other conscious Pokemon around was... another Zoroark. It wasn't Diana, but was somehow vaguely familiar?
"Wh-Who are..." Kora could barely speak, the paralysis kicking in as he tried to speak.
"You're still heavily paralyzed. Try not to move too much, and keep your body on the ground," the other Zoroark said. Kora obeyed, but it wasn't like he wasn't going to not lay on the ground anyway. "For convenience sake, you can call me Z."
"I've n-never se-en y-ou on th-e i-sland be-fore," Kora replied. His body really didn't want him talking right now, it took a lot out of him just to speak.
"I'm... new. Came here earlier today. Guess it was fate that brought me here to help you," Z replied, pulling a Lum Berry from his mane. "Eat this. It'll help you heal quicker," Z tossed the berry into Kora's paw, who was reluctant to trust the stranger.
"How lo-ng h-ave I b-een out?" Kora asked, biting into the green berry. It had a strange taste to it, but Kora couldn't put his claw on it. Z pointed up at the stars before answering.
"You tell me. It's basically night, so you can figure that out yourself, I hope." The other Zoroark stood up and tossed four more Lum Berries at Kora before starting to walk away.
"Make sure your friends eat those as soon as they can," Z told Kora, waving a goodbye and disappearing into the forest. Kora's paralysis finally faded, but his body was still mostly sore from the battle. Kora didn't entirely believe everything that Z said was true, yet he looked forward to running into him again.
The sky grew dark much faster than Kora expected, but before the sun set, his friends finally started to wake up. Kora quickly gave them the Lum Berries he was given and helped each of them to their feet. Unfortunately, Minerva was still out cold.
A few minutes passed, and others thought she would wake up any second. But... more time passed, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, half an hour, and the feline didn't move. Kora started to worry, staying adamantly by her side. The longer she took to wake, the more nervous and unnerved Kora became. Almost an hour passed, and still nothing.
Rio and Kora both sat beside Minerva, waiting for her to move or say something. A boastful remark about saving them, or a snide comment about having her taking the thunder by herself. Some part of Kora hoped she was doing this on purpose, and she'd hop onto her feet and laugh at how worried he got. Jax and Zen agreed to leave the three alone, giving them some blankets and keeping the talking to a minimum.
"Can you sense her aura?" Kora asked after keeping quiet for so long, turning his head slightly towards Rio while keeping his eyes on Minerva.
Rio shrugged. "I can't tell what I'm sensing. I think that Pikachu messed up my head or something, because whenever I try to sense aura, all I see is staticy yellow," Rio sighed. The two remained silent, keeping their focus on Minerva and hardly moving from their spots. You'd think you were looking at two statues in the dark of night.
It was pitch black out when the two decided to finally sleep. They didn't care how much time passed, but their already weakened bodies sure did. Kora curled up around Minerva, making sure her head wasn't covered by anything and giving her enough space to move if she woke up in the middle of the night. Rio laid right next to the fox, making sure he was still able to see the feline and tossing a blanket over them before going to sleep. Hopefully, there'd be some better news in the morning.