"..."

"Hey..."

"..?"

"Wake up..."

"...Huh?"

"Come on, open your eyes!"

A sudden, startling slap struck across Rio's face, waking him from his slumber. He looked around dazed; his eyes not processing his surroundings yet.

"You awake yet?" that voice from earlier asked, followed by another slap to the face.

"O-Ow!" Rio exclaimed, shooting upright. "Wh-What the hell?! I'm up, I'm up!" He looked to whoever left the stinging mark on him, coming face to face with a blue blob. That would have been more startling if his vision hadn't come back a second later, revealing the blob to be a Lucario.

"Great! We have no time to waste!" the jackal exclaimed, grabbing Rio by the arm and dragging him across the ground. The feeling of dirt and leaves and twigs scraping the Outlander's back and legs was very much unwanted. He yanked his arm from the canine and stood up.

"Ok, first off, screw you for slapping me," Rio stated, rubbing his cheek. "Secondly, where the hell are we?"

"I'm sorry, but we're kinda on a tight schedule, genius! You slept for like, for-ever! I'm trying to help you fix that, remember?" Lucario said, pointing at Rio.

"I'm not even holding anythi-" Rio, strangely, remembered he was holding something and lifted it up. Sure enough, a green and blue streaked orb stared him in the eye. "Oh... when did I-"

"No time for idle chit-chat! Let's move!" Lucario barked. "Tight schedule, tighter rules, now git!" Basically radiating impatience, the jackal got behind Rio and pushed him through the woods, not giving him a chance to stop or talk.

"Why the rush? Like seriously, calm down!" Rio said, trying to free himself from the paws of the canine. "Where's the fire?"

"In your hands, obviously," Lucario replied. "What did you think that flamey-look the orb has is? Aesthetic? That's a fire, of sorts, and we wasted enough time already so let's GO!"

The two went deep into the woods, not stopping for any reason. It looked like they were headed for the large Mountain. Rio tried again and again to get some answers, but he got nothing from the canine, at least nothing that helped. They eventually stopped in a clearing, relatively close to the mountain.

"There we go, hah... hah... now we can, one sec..." The canine fell on his back, panting heavily. "God, you couldn't move by yourself at all? I should charge you for that, you know!"

"Actually..." Rio tried to move his legs, but all that did was cause electricity to crackle. It didn't hurt, but he couldn't move. "I can't. Funny, right?"

"Oh, right! That's part of the reason our time is getting cut short!" Lucario clapped his paws together, bouncing back onto his feet. "Well, it's a good thing we're already so close, but dammit! This better wear off soon, pushing your sorry butt has me beat!"

"Oh, boo hoo," Rio rolled his eyes. "As sorry for you as I am, I'd like it if you answered one of my questions. I do not understand what's going on, or who you are, or why we're on Sunset but it's basically deserted.

Lucario grumbled and mumbled dramatically, rolling onto his side and propping his head up on his paw. With a sigh, he finally decided to introduce himself. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to give my name already... Alright, yeah," he grinned, jumping to his feet and giving Rio a bow. "Orion, the Jester, at your service. I have a few more titles, but my family calls me the Jester so I prefer that. Or Joker... Maybe even-"

"Orion, got it," Rio interrupted, feeling an elongated monologue coming on and stopping it immediately. "That name sounds... familiar."

"Ok, rude," Orion pouted and crossed his arms. "Can't even let a guy talk about himself? And here I thought I was being pushy," he snickered at his own joke, taking Rio's silence to mean he missed it. "C'mon Rio, laugh a little! I get that you might get a little shock from this, but, there's sparks between us, I can feel it!"

"I hate you," Rio said flatly. "None of those were funny."

"Yeah, sure. I guess I can fill you in on the rest of the details, despite your ungratefulness," Orion cleared his throat. "I'm dead, so were you, and we're trying to make it so the body you're in works properly so you can save the world. Happy?"

Rio took in none of that at first; Orion said it so fast that Rio thought he misheard some parts. Like, surely, he wasn't dead right? "Ok, can you run that by me again, but without the fast-talking and jokes sprinkled in?"

"I can slow it down, but I wasn't joking," Orion's face grew serious. "We're both just, or we were, dead. Laid to rest, six feet under, we took our last breath, we saw our last sunrise, our summer vacation is-"

"Stop... just, for a second..." Rio leaned on a tree trunk, his free hand on his chest. "I'm dead..."

"Were! You were dead! But, probably because of destiny or something cliche like that, you're alive again! Or one of my experiments..." Orion attempted to keep Rio from panicking, muttering that last part to himself. "It's not something you can easily get past, but, that's it. You died. It sucks, trust me, but you can move past it. I did, at least."

'That's right, he's dead too... I almost forgot, already.' Rio thought, trying to shake off the lightheadedness that threatened to knock him over. A bit of deja vu washed through Rio's system, which was actually a comfort to him. If he felt he had dealt with this before, he can deal with it again. After taking a couple deep breaths, Rio pushed himself off the tree and faced Orion.

"There we go!" Orion smiled. "Besides, there's no reason to get all mopey about this, you're already on your way to becoming one with your new self, and the only way to do that is with that orb you got," the Lucario pointed at the orb Rio held. "It's... difficult to describe, and all that research I did in my life wasn't able to cover it all that well, but I think I know what to do."

"Really? I didn't know jesters were nerdy?" Rio chuckled, bringing a smile to Orion's snout.

"I said my family knows me as a Jester, but I'm a bit of a scientist. Part of the reason I'm still here is because of my study in Outlanders, as well as some good old fashioned genetic mapping, DNA splicing, and Psycheology, but I don't have the time to get into all that. You're about ready to go."

A sudden tiredness struck Rio, surprising him still despite Orion's prediction of it. He wobbled a bit as his body felt like it was slowly falling into a deep sleep. His vision blurred, his limbs were going limp, and any words he tried to make came out jumbled and slurred. Orion sat on the ground and grinned.

"I'll see you when you get back. I'll try and get us as close as I can to the mountain, but I need you here to actually get inside," he said, waving goodbye. Rio wanted to raise his hand to do the same, but his body decided to fall instead, and he hit the ground, out like a light.

Orion let out an exhausted sigh, holding the back of his head with his paws. "Is this even going to work?!" he shouted, looking over Rio again. "What good is scientific research when you're DEAD?! I didn't even think this was possible! I'm DEAD for pete's sake!" Orion quickly covered his mouth and groaned. "Right... can't be too loud... Might want to move along, just in case."

Orion lifted the unconscious Rio and put him over his shoulder. He started moving parallel to the mountain, not wanting to get too much closer to it yet.

"Uhhhhggggg... I better not mess this up, you know, the thing I had no way to prepare for, nor did I know was even a thing that existed!" the Lucario sighed. "Rio, if something happens, it's probably my fault? But, uh... don't hold it against me? Please?"

Despite his efforts, Kora hardly slept. He was racked with worry and grief; the thought of his friend's injury being his own fault echoing over and over in his head. He checked to see how Minerva was doing; she was still curled up in his grasp, breathing gently, and very, very faintly purring. But, she always does that when she sleeps, so was it a good sign?

Shortly after Kora woke, so did Rio. The night was rough on the Outlander as well, his dreams littered with strange but familiar places and a Pokemon he couldn't remember. It was almost enough for him to forget about Minerva's condition, up until he saw her. He tried to sense her aura again, but just like before, nothing but yellow and static.

"How's your aura sense, thing?" Kora asked, making sure Minerva was wrapped up snug.

"Perfect, if everyone's aura turned yellow and staticy. How're you feeling?" Rio replied, wrapping himself back up and shivering lightly.

"Right now? I'm wishing I could do something other than wait. She's still breathing, and you think her aura's still there, so I shouldn't be worrying so much... right?" Kora asked. Rio shrugged, sitting closer.

"I'm just as worried as you are, and maybe a little angry at myself for this whole thing happening," Rio said with a sigh. "I can't believe we actually fell over each other in a pool of water..."

"Right? How did we manage that? When she wakes up, we won't be able to hear the end of it!" Kora threw his paws up and huffed. The two chuckled for a bit, eventually deciding to go inside the gym to escape the cold. Kora lifted Minerva up in his arms and walked behind Rio as they entered the tent.

No one else was in the gym, surprisingly. In fact, it didn't look like anyone stayed the night in there. Stranger still was the fact that Rio couldn't sense anything nearby. It's not like everyone else decided to sleep somewhere else for some reason, right? Neither of the boys could think of why the tent was so vacant, and decided the best thing to do was to look for someone.

It was much colder than yesterday, so they each grabbed a blanket and wore them as cloaks. The first thing they checked was Nick's shop, which was closed. Kora didn't want to call out for the Delibird and risk waking him, if he was there that is. When the two checked the bakery, they were met with the same vacant silence as Nick's place. Obviously the large empty tent was still large and empty, and with no other places to check in the square, Rio and Kora left for the beach.

As time passed, more clouds filled the sky and the temperature started gradually dropping. In order to keep his unconscious friend warm, Kora tried to heat his arms up with an Incinerate without actually firing the attack.

"D-Does it always get s-so c-c-cold this time of y-year?" Rio asked through chattering teeth, wrapping himself up as tight as he could.

"I mean, it's gotten cold before, but I don't think it's gotten this cold," Kora said, holding Minerva a bit tighter. For a split second, Kora could have sworn he saw the cat start to smile.

As expected, the beach wasn't much warmer. At least the sand felt nicer than the dirt and grass of the rest of the island. Kora and Rio walked for a while before encountering Eva, all alone at the shore. She was shivering, not as much as Rio was, and staring out to sea. She didn't notice either of the two Pokemon approach her until they spoke up.

"Why are you sitting out in the cold? Did something happen?" Rio asked. He tried to sense her aura, hoping whatever was messing with him earlier wore off. It worked, revealing a melancholy feeling shrouding over Eva.

The Zangoose jumped a little before turning to the Lucario beside her. She was about to respond to him when she noticed Kora holding Minerva in his arms. "What happened to her?" She asked. When she didn't get an answer, Eva frowned. "The two of you nitwits better not have gotten her hurt!" She growled.

"I-It's not like that! She's just... sleeping," Kora lied, but maybe if he hoped enough, he would be right?

Eva read the guilty expression on Kora's face clear as day, standing up and glaring at the fox and jackal. "You're lying, aren't you?" Eva asked through gritted teeth. It didn't help when she didn't get an answer. Rio sighed and took off his blanket off his head.

"We went to find Jax after you left us. When we found him at the Springs, there was a Pikachu fighting Zen, and Jax was out cold. We fought her as hard as we could, but she overpowered all of us. Kora and I were in one of the springs and she was going to hit us with a Thunder..." Rio explained, clenching his paws and gritting his teeth. He couldn't bring himself to finish.

"Minerva saved us, but she took the attack to do it... she's been out since then," Kora said, his ears dropping to the sides of his head.

Eva crossed her arms and stepped closer to Kora. "You just let your friend take the hit for you, huh? No sudden burst of energy to save her, no attempt to make her stop?" Eva got close to Kora's face and poked him in the chest, "Honestly, Koraza, are you trying to get her killed?"

Rio was surprised by the Zangoose's sudden anger, and even more so when Kora let her say it without saying a word. "E-Eva, I don't think he-" Rio was quickly shut up by Eva's paw.

"Or were you just 'too scared' to do anything? This isn't the first time you let your 'friend' take a hit for you, and it doesn't look to be the last," Eva said coldly.

"I-I... that's not how..." Kora whined, finding it difficult to look at Eva, or Minerva. The fox's legs started to shake. His body felt like it was getting heavier, or was being pulled to the ground.

"Then you should have done something," Eva hissed and crossed her arms as she started walking away.

Rio just now realized the fickle nature of Eva's team. One minute it feels like everyone is good friends, but the next minute, it's entirely the opposite.

"...Eva, can you help me... please..?" Kora asked, holding his head down. Eva turned her head back to the two and frowned.

"Why should I? So you can get her in more danger? So you can let her take more attacks for your sorry ass?" Eva spat.

"Eva that's enough!" Rio said firmly, getting Eva and Kora's attention. "I don't know what your deal is with him, but he's trying to fix this! The last thing we need is your piss poor attitude, which doesn't help anyone!" Rio grabbed Kora's arm and the two started walking towards the Mountain to the North.

"Where are we going?" Kora asked, glancing back at Eva. She was already walking away.

"The guild's in the mountain, right? If we go there, we're either going to find some help or that prissy Pikachu and have her fix this!" Rio replied, letting go of Kora's arm. The fox could sense some newfound hostility rising in the jackal he traveled with, which felt... odd. There was something to it that he couldn't put his claw on, but it didn't feel right.

Rio, with Kora in tow, made it to the part of the beach owned by the Sunrise Guild. The Mountain to the North was practically on the shoreline, on the center-line of the Island. Possibly due to how close the Mountain was to the shore, the sand was more blue and grey compared to other parts of the coast.

The beach currently had the scars of battle, craters and burn marks scattered across the sand and disrupted it's serene beauty, and as Rio had expected, a certain yellow rodent who he was ready to battle again.

She looked to be training with a group of three Pokémon, a Charmeleon, a Frogadier, and a Grovyle. Much like the beach, the trio had their fair share of bruises. The Charmeleon especially looked worn out, on the brink of passing out.

"The three of you are progressing exceptionally well. If we keep at it, and maybe go out and do some real exploring on the mainland, you three will be able to move your rank up to Expert Explorers!" she said proudly. The trio probably would have cheered if they weren't so tired and beat up. Eventually, Frogadier noticed Rio and Kora standing off to the side.

"Who are they? And why are they wearing blankets as cloaks?" Frogadier asked, pointing at the two strangers. When Pikachu looked where her student was pointing, she cocked her head, confused.

'What are they coming up here for?' she thought. She closed her eyes for a moment, attempting to sense their auras, but she must've still needed practice with that as she barely felt anything from Rio. She was able to feel some bits of anger from him, strangely. She turned to her students, making sure to keep a collected demeanor. "Your training for today is over so, go back inside and get some rest."

"Wait, are you gonna fight them? Forgive us Miss Nari but we must see this!" Grovyle said, an excited grin on his face.

Nari, obviously the Pikachu, let out a slightly annoyed sigh. There was no point in telling them to go again, the three were already excited to see her fight, so she might as well indulge them a tiny bit.

"Fine, just sit and watch then." Nari rolled her eyes and walked over to Rio and Kroa. She could tell that Rio wasn't exactly pleased to see her, the snarling and growling at her was a pretty obvious tell. "Is something wrong?"

"Cut the act! I'm only up here so you can fix our friend that you almost killed!" Rio barked angrily, pointing at Minerva. Kora kept quiet, but slightly nodded his head in agreement. Nari looked over to see an unconscious Meowth in Kora's arms.

"What? I've hardly left the Guild in the past week, and the few times I did, I never went far enough to run into any of you," Nari said, brow raised.

"Ah, we must have run into a different Pikachu in the Springs yesterday? That's what you're saying?" Rio's growl became more audible, and a faint dark glow started to surround him.

"Rio, I swear, I never went out and fought anyone! The most I've done was check in on Nate and Zeke and the progress of your training. Nothing mo-"

Rio interrupted the mouse by slamming his paw into her face, sending her flying back towards the trio. Charmeleon and Grovyle caught her, glaring at Nari's attacker.

"LIAR!" Rio yelled, a black aura enveloping his body. Kora ducked past Rio and hid a good distance behind Nari, holding Minerva closely. Nari instinctively dodged out of Kora's way, leading to her getting hit in the face by Rio.

"What the hell!? That's cheating!" Charmeleon yelled, about to join the fight himself. Before he was able to interfere, Nari stopped the reptile. Her nose shed a bit of blood, and she was still a tad dazed, but the Charmeleon backed down.

Kora wanted to go over and help Nari, feeling that him running on instinct was what got her hurt, but Minerva was a higher priority to him right now. He didn't want to put her down, or risk her getting hurt if he tried to interfere. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to… S-Sorry…" he apologized, taking a step back.

'Alright, I heard Rio packed a surprising bit of strength, but I wasn't expecting this.' Nari thought, wiping the blood from her nose and regaining her posture. 'He seems really pissed about Minerva getting hurt, but it isn't my fault. This is a bit of a pain, but it shouldn't be too hard.'

"Rio, if I promise to help Minerva, will you calm down?" Nari asked. She didn't get a proper response, just an angry grunt. Rio still seemed driven to fight for some reason. Nari nodded and turned her head to the side a bit, keeping eye contact with Rio. "Kids, have Kora follow you to the nurse. I'll meet up with you after I handle the Outlander," Nari ordered.

"H-HE'S AN OUTLANDER?!" the trio exclaimed. Nari grumbled and facepalmed, cursing herself for letting that slip.

"I'll fill you three in later, just make sure the Zoroark and his friend get to the nurse. No objections!" Nari said firmly. The three students, followed by Kora, quickly left the area. Kora turned back before entering the mountain.

"Thank you," Kora said gratefully, quickly following behind the trio.

Rio hardly waited for the others to leave before attacking again. He rushed Nari down and swung his arm towards her. He was quicker than Nari expected, but not nearly as fast as her. She blocked his arm with an Iron Tail, knocking him backwards.

"I wasn't expecting you to fight like this," Nari grumbled. "It's obvious you're upset, but you're only gonna get yourself hurt if you keep fighting this way."

Her words were ignored as Rio continued his assault. He fought like a beast; growling, barking, biting. And that strange aura around him wasn't any good either. Nari frowned; she remembered hearing about this from Zeke, that 'Berserk' thing found its way on the island. She was interested to see it first hand, but the more the fight dragged on, the harder it was for her to stay one step ahead.

One misstep later, and Nari was struck by a powerful punch to her gut. She stumbled back, clutching her stomach and sucking air between her teeth. "O-Ok, that hurt… But that's the last time you hit me, just you watch."

Rio barked in response, getting on all fours and staring Nari down. Seeing this as some sort of challenge, Nari did the same. Minus the barking. The two dove at each other, Rio gnashing his teeth, and Nari sporting a confident smirk. The moment Rio got close, he was met with a shock, a rather large one in fact.

"Thunderbolt!" Nari struck Rio with a bolt directly on his head. "Iron tail!" With a strong hit from her iron tail, Nari sent Rio stumbling backwards. Letting out a pained snarl, Rio shook the attack off and charged at Nari again.

"I already told you, Rio. You can't win if you're running on rage," Nari said, dodging more of Rio's attacks. "I'd really like to not send you to the infirmary, but if you keep this up, I can't promise I won't hurt you.". Another growl and a snarl, but Rio didn't try to attack her. He barked and held his head in furious frustration, and the aura around him started to swell.

"This isn't good," Nari groaned, the air starting to crackle around her. "Fine, don't say I didn't warn you."

Rio shot towards Nari with a burst of dark aura, his eyes burning crimson, filled with uncontrollable fury. Nari's electric aura engulfed her entirely.

"RRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Rio roared, thrusting his palm forward with all his might. Nari caught his arm and gripped it tightly.

"Giga-jolt Discharge!" A violent explosion of blue electricity erupted from Nari's tiny body, more powerful than her own body to handle fully. Rio's dark aura fizzled out. As the electricity in the air fizzled away, his body gave of smoke and large crackles of static.

Nari let go of Rio and took a step back. He has promise, even without the abilities of a Lucario he put up a better fight than Nari expected. She'd make sure to congratulate him when he recovers. She reached for Rio's arm, when he abruptly lurched forward.

"I-It worked…" he groaned, sudden life breathing into him. His arm band started glowing bright yellow, and that absence of aura Nari felt was replaced with one similar to her own. Rio's movements were almost forced as he tried to stand up straight. "Th-This could have g-gone better, hah... but it worked…"

Nari blinked, wondering what he was talking about. She snapped her claws as she remembered the other thing Zeke told her about. "Right, your ability to take the typing of whatever attack hits you. Wait, you mean you were in control that entire time?"

"N-No, I wasn't. It he-helped when you shocked m-my head, though. E-Every-thing after was m-e," Rio explained as a yellow glow grew around his body. His fur spiked up from all the static, and his aura feelers remained raised slightly in the air. He let out a sigh before giving Nari a grin. "Now, to save Minerva," he said. He was only being able to take a step forward before falling to his knees.

"With how busted up you are now? It's a miracle you aren't knocked out cold. You need to rest." Nari shook her head as she helped Rio up.

"Not yet, just let me get to Minerva first," Rio replied, trying to walk again. He wobbled and stumbled a bit, but Nari was there to help him whenever he fell.

There wasn't much to the guild at first, the hallway Nari led Rio down was wide enough for three Pokémon to stand comfortably, the walls had glowing crystals lighting their way, and the smell of damp rock floated in the air. After a bit of walking, the hall opened up to a massive cavern with giant, multi-colored crystals decorating the walls and ceiling. There were holes scattered on the walls that had signs indicating where they led, and in the center of the cavern was one massive, rainbow-colored crystal. The path Rio and Nari followed was larger than the one they entered the mountain through, and it didn't smell like salt and wet rocks.

"C'mon, we're almost there," Nari said. Every time he looked ready to slump over, Nari would shake him slightly. "Don't pass out on me yet, I refuse to carry you all the way to the infirmary."

"You say that like I did this to myself," Rio chuckled weakly.

Nari rolled her eyes. "Keep joking around and I might just let you fall over next time."

The pair reached a fork in the tunnels and turned right, arriving just a few minutes later at the infirmary. The only one inside right now as Kora and Minerva, the latter of which was still asleep. As Rio and Nari entered, Kora turned to them, a look of worry suddenly on his face.

"What did you do to Rio?" Kora asked Nari. His ears fell to the sides of his head, and he sighed. "I never should have left him..."

Rio shook his head. "Don't blame yourself, it was my idea. I'll explain in a bit."

Just then, the young trio walked into the room, followed by a female Meowstic with a nurse hat.

"Oh? You're already done fighting the Outlander?" Grovyle asked. "We brought this Zoroark here, but Tia was gone so we left him to find her." Nari nodded and smiled at the three.

"Thank you," Kora said with a weak nod.

"Minerva's been like this for almost a whole day, Kora said that I hit her with a Thunder and she went unconscious right after," Nari explained, bringing the nurse to Minerva.

Tia studied the unconscious Meowth closely, noting the unusual status of her life force and random sparks of energy, before looking over at Rio, who was trying to keep his eyes open. "What happened to him? And why is he... sparking?" Tia asked. Rio shook his head and slapped his cheeks, but still felt groggy and tired.

"This is the new Outlander, Rio. Apparently, he planned to get hit with my electricity, but how that's supposed to help Minerva, he hasn't told me yet," Nari replied.

Tia's ears twitched at the mention of Rio being an Outlander. "Can you stand, Rio?" she asked. At first Rio looked like he didn't hear her, his half-closed eyes almost looking straight past her. He eventually nodded his head weakly and stood on shaky legs.

"I gotthissss..." Rio answered, almost falling over. Kora helped Rio over to Minerva. The Outlander placed his paw on Minerva's chest, closing his eyes and steadying himself. Both Rio and Minerva started sparking and Rio slowly lifted his paw upwards. A steady stream of lightning connected Rio's paw to Minerva as he raised his arm. A few seconds passed, and Rio quickly grabbed the electricity and yanked back as fast as he could. Minerva's body let out a wave of electricity, hitting both Kora and Rio directly.

The two boys fell backwards, Rio holding a small, bright yellow shard, and Kora holding Rio on top of him. He gently pushed Rio off and groaned, rubbing the back of his head.

Tia went over to Minerva and cast a Heal Pulse into the young feline, inspecting her again. 'Incredible...' she thought. 'She was in such a heavy paralysis, but he pulled it out of her so easily. He's definitely an Outlander,' Tia turned to the two boys with a relieved smile.

"She's… cured. Although she'll still need time to recover," Tia said, nodding.

Kora sighed and chuckled to himself. "You hear that, buddy? You did it!" Kora patted Rio on the shoulder. When the Lucario's body remained motionless laid on the floor, Kora's fur stood on end. "R-Rio?"

"Hey, uh, guy? You alright?" Charmeleon asked, poking the Outlander a few times before being pulled back by his team.

"Dude, really?" Frogadier rolled her eyes, nodding her head towards Rio. He was knocked out and began snoring loudly. Relief washed through the room like a gentle breeze.

"If you wouldn't mind, could you bring him to one of the vacant rooms in the Explorers Wing? I'd offer to keep him here, but he's quite loud in his sleep," Tia asked Kora, rubbing her ears. Kora nodded, and right before he left, looked over at Minerva. She was breathing gently and she was smiling.

"Hey, Nurse. If Minerva's alright, why does she gotta sleep still?" Kora asked.

"Fatigue, probably. I'm willing to bet she was fighting that paralysis as best she could, which would certainly take a toll on the body," Tia answered, tapping her chin.

"Is that the same thing that's affecting Rio?" Kora asked.

"It's hard to say, but it's likely, since he was fighting Nari," Tia said. "But I predict he won't need as much time asleep as Minerva does."

Kora nodded and thanked Tia before leaving the infirmary, with the young trio following behind him. Nari and Tia waited a few moments before turning to each other and back to Minerva.

"Nari, are you feeling alright?" Tia asked, keeping her focus on Minerva.

"Why do you ask? I don't have bags under my eyes, do I?" the Pikachu joked.

Tia giggled before responding. "No, it's just my job to ask. I mean, you never know when someone's hurt until you ask them, right?"

"I feel like that's very situational. If someone came up to you with a broken arm, would you still ask if they're alright?" Nari grinned.

"Alright, you have a point. I'll save the questions for people without visible injuries," Tia playfully rolled her eyes. "Oh, while you're here, what are our plans for the next expedition?"

"Hell if I know, the others usually handle that and fill me in the day of. What I do know is that everyone's going, including you. Which is why I gotta get some more damn paperwork done," Nari said, groaning.

"Sounds about right. Guess I'll let you go then. I'll just put 'bad attitude' on your symptoms sheet," Tia smiled.

"That's less than last time, guess I really am getting better, huh?" Nari snickered, then turned to leave. "See ya when I see ya."

Tia nodded and waved as Nari left, turning her attention back to Minerva. A pink glow surrounded her body as she floated closer to Minerva, and that same glow stretched over Minerva's body.

'No, it couldn't have been Nari...' Tia thought to herself. 'As powerful as she is, this paralysis was way out of her league. It felt, similar, but not exactly the same...' She tried to access Minerva's memories, but wasn't able to pull anything up. The Meowstic shrugged it off, it wasn't uncommon for her to be barred access from slumbering individuals' memories. It'd be safe for Tia to try and pry when Minerva was awake anyway.

"Guess I'll just wait. I certainly don't mind the peace and quiet," Tia said as she sat next to Minerva. "...Why do I feel like I jinxed something?"