Tia took in a deep breath and scratched behind her ear. She smiled and hummed to herself as she went back to caring for Jax. "With how hectic today's been, I feel like I haven't retired at all."
"Retired?" Nina asked, sitting on Jay's bed. "From what?"
"I used to be a part of Diana's team. There were quite a few of us, but I was with her almost as long as Orion was. She saved me from something I wanted no part of, and in return I joined her team as a healer," Tia sighed and chuckled. "Not a lot has changed outside of me no longer being some hero helping Diana save the world."
"I guess, yeah," Nina said, crossing her arms. "It's… strange. I've never heard of you being part of Diana's team. Actually, I've little of her team at all other than her and Orion…"
Tia nodded. "Yes, I know. Most of us moved on from that part of our lives for one reason or another. Besides, the ones to do most of the heavy lifting were Diana and Orion themselves, why wouldn't they be the only two remembered?" she laughed, resting a paw on Jax's ruined arm. "This guild and this island were named after their journey, you know. According to what the Guildmaster told me, Diana's journey began and ended at sunset, she and Orion were wed at sunset, and their first born was born during a sunset."
"Really?" Nina blinked, then chuckled. "That sounds perfect, honestly. But… how did the guildmaster know?"
Tia paused for a moment, then all she said was, "He and Orion were close friends."
"Who was he?" Nina asked, leaning in.
"...I can't tell you, you know that," Tia said weakly. "But keep hanging around Orion's kids and you'll meet him yourself soon enough."
Nina tilted her head, puzzled. "Didn't know you were the cryptic type, Miss Tia."
"I dabble in crypticism from time to time," Tia chuckled. "It's fun to see the looks on people's faces when they try to understand whatever I say. For instance, falling for a brick wall is the same as falling on one, it will only end in you getting hurt."
"Ok now I know you're just spouting nonsense," Nina laughed.
Tia giggled, turning to Nina with a smug look on her muzzle. "Maybe, maybe not, but I feel I've never made a more on-the-nose analogy before."
"How is that an 'on-the-nose' analogy?" Nina said, putting her hands on her hips. "Where is anyone gonna find a brick wa- K-Kora?"
"So you figured it out already?" Tia snapped her claws and pouted. "Shoot…"
"What? No, Kora's gone," Nina pointed out. "Rio too! Where did they..? Wh-When did..?"
"Wait, what?" Tia blinked, turning around to see that the Outlander and his partner were just… gone.
Rio's eyes opened to a vast, familiar emptiness. There was no light, aside from a few distant sparkles of faded green, red, or blue. A heavy silence fell over Rio's shoulders, pulling him down to a floor that he wasn't sure existed, and a dull hum caused his ears to ache. Without even realizing it, Rio started to walk. He followed an invisible path in total silence. No matter how far he thought he went, everything stayed in the exact same place.
Eventually, those sparkles started to snuff out, one by one. Soon, the only ones left were the green ones. Rio was uninterested by it, however. Further and further he went, or maybe he wasn't going anywhere at all.
…
Rio's ears flicked and his head snapped to his right. There was a voice, but nothing was said. He started to ignore the path he was following and walked towards the direction of the voice. Funnily enough, everything around him started moving too.
After some time, Rio stopped, yet everything around him still moved. Faint, green sparkles flew off into the distance, leaving Rio in a total darkness. He must've been more tired than he thought, as once he tried to move again, his body fell forward. Instead of hitting whatever he was standing on, he continued falling…
...Falling…
. . .Falling. . .
The crisp crunch of leaves under paws and a gentle, cooling breeze welcomed Rio with open arms. The forest was entirely black, as was the sky, yet he was still able to see. How early was it? Or late? Rio took a step forward, stumbling as if he was new to walking again.
One long walk through the forest later, and he came across a vacant clearing. It felt… like it was missing something. Rio caught the smallest of movements from the corner of his eye, and when he turned to face it, he was suddenly standing before a vast sea. The forest floor was replaced with sand, the gentle breeze through the leaves exchanged for waves lapping at a shoreline. And yet there wasn't a single trace of color anywhere.
Rio took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He let out a deep sigh, opening his eyes again to find himself surrounded by snow. Snowflakes dusted his entire body, and the wind had picked up drastically, but the cold didn't bother him anyway.
"Orion!" Rio shouted, barely hearing himself over the howling winds. There was no reply. "Where is he?" Rio shook his head, looking to the mountain to the north. He nodded to himself and started to walk towards it, believing that to be his best chance to find someone.
The snow and wind were relentless, yet Rio hardly slowed down. A ways along the shore, a massive tree had fallen and blocked his path. It was wider and longer than any other tree on the island, almost as if it stretched on forever from end to end. Rio had the idea to climb over it, when something else caught his eye. For a split second, something had ducked into the forest.
"Hello?" Rio said, his body already following behind whatever he saw. The snow piled up higher and higher in the woods, reaching Rio's waist. He remained silent, pushing past low-hanging branches and tiny trees, using the fallen tree from before to keep track of where he was.
On and on he walked; he couldn't keep track of how long it was. Everything looked the same; the tree he followed looked exactly the same, every other tree he passed, every twig he snapped, every snowflake that fell on his face, and every gust of wind, all of them the exact same… Even when Rio turned around, nothing had changed. His trail in the snow was perfectly covered. Untouched. Unbroken. Unnervingly perfect.
It was then Rio noticed that he wasn't tired, despite knowing he had been walking for a long while. As some sort of sick joke, that was when Rio finally came up on the mountain. He knew he wasn't heading this way, but seeing something different filled Rio with unbridled joy.
"Oh thank god!" Rio laughed, falling to his knees. Despite not being exhausted, Rio took in deep breaths of air. He couldn't feel the cold of the snow on his body or the air going into his lungs, but a chill ran through his body regardless.
...Keep going…
Rio picked his head up, staring at the mountain. He wasn't in that clearing anymore, instead he was right in front of the mountain's beachside entrance. He looked back to see that massive, fallen tree right behind him.
"Right, yeah, I need to find Orion." Rio stood back up and dusted the snow off himself, then entered the cave before him.
As one would expect, it was darker inside the mountain than outside, despite everything being dark. Rio's footsteps echoed as he walked along the cold, stone floor. Which was strange considering his paws were soft, the last time he checked.
Eventually, Rio came upon a large, open room, with countless tunnels lining the walls, and a giant, darkened crystal in the center. A dull hum resonated from the crystal, but Rio only heard it when he pressed his paw against it. It also sent an unsettling buzz up his arm.
"What is this?" Rio asked, pulling his paw back and shaking it a bit. He looked around the room, feeling a strange sense of deja vu.
One of the tunnels was quick to catch his attention; Rio could have sworn that there was some semblance of color coming from it. Rio rubbed his eyes and squinted. Yeah, there was a very, very, very faint blue light coming from it. Actually, now that he was here, a few of the other tunnels had faint colors glowing from them as well. Red, pink, yellow, white, and orange lights appeared down only a few of the tunnels.
One of the lower tunnels had this strange… green color coming from it. Something about it rubbed Rio the wrong way. He was about to go down one of the other tunnels, when...
...Over here...
His ear flicked, and his head turned to one of the tunnels. There it was again! He just barely saw it! That little thing he was chasing earlier! M-Maybe. It was hard to tell since Rio couldn't see the damn thing before it ran off, but it's not like there'd be another thing here with him.
"Hold on!" Rio called out, sucking his teeth as he realized it was already long gone. He completely ignored the blue tunnel and ran behind the shifty figure, determined not to lose it so easily this time. Even though he had already lost it… "Come back!"
By the time Rio realized that he wasn't going to catch up to what he was chasing, he noticed that he was in another, darker darkness. If he didn't know any better, he'd have called it advanced darkness, but such a thing didn't exist.
"I have no idea what's going on…" Rio groaned loudly. The further he walked, the more the dull echo of his footsteps faded, and the more… open the tunnel felt. It felt wrong to call whatever he was in a tunnel at that point, actually.
Rio eventually stopped and shut his eyes, holding his face in his paws and growling. "I can't believe this… I'm beyond lost, and alone, and… GAHHHHH!" he yelled, stomping furiously. The "ground" Rio stood on shook with his yell, causing him to stumble. "O-Ok… uh, so I shouldn't do th-" the ground shook again.
The best course of action felt like standing perfectly still. Not a single muscle moved, nor a hair on his body. Rio waited for as long as he possibly could, then waited even longer. His body started to feel stiff, and even then, he waited longer. When his lips got dry, he didn't dare lick them. Even when his eyes ached from being open so long, Rio did not blink. He straight up denied himself the ability to breathe, too.
From the darkness around him, Rio felt something shift. Something was moving around him, possibly? Was he moving? Well, no, obviously he wasn't, but was something else moving him? Just to be safe, Rio stayed still for just a bit longer, long enough for that shifting to stop and then some.
Thinking he was safe now, Rio let out the breath he was holding. "That's a relief…" he chuckled. "But… now what? I guess I find the exit? Assuming there is one," Rio sighed as his shoulders sank. "Please let there be one…"
Still unsure that he was safe to move, Rio gulped and took a single step…
"S-So far so good…"
And then another…
"Alright, yeah…"
And then another…
"…"
And several more after that.
"Oh, I guess I'm actually safe then?" Rio said, chuckling and shaking his head. "What the hell was all that about, then? Got me all worried over nothi-"
Then the ground beneath him cracked open and swallowed him inside.
"SON OF A BITCH!"
A loud, painful, solid THUD echoed through stone halls, followed by an equally loud and painful wheeze and several choking coughs. Rio clutched his chest, gasping for air as he laid painfully still on his back. The sudden appearance of light and color, and pain, was so overwhelming that Rio's eyes stung. He slowly rolled onto his chest, wincing and groaning all the while.
"Wh-Why..?" Rio choked, resting his forehead on the ground. He might be a steel type, but his insides feel like they're made of glass. And that glass was just slammed into a stone with the might of the gods."E-Everything… is in... sooooo much pain…"
Rio needed a couple minutes to recover, then leaned as far back as he could and took in as much air as possible. As his eyes refocused and a good amount of the pain faded away, Rio saw where he had dropped into…
A cave. How surprising.
What wasn't surprising, was the colorful array of gems lighting up the hall. They were so much more vivid than the ones in the rest of the mountain. Bright oranges, lively greens, hot pinks, deep purples, some gems that look like actual metal and stone, and loads more! It was fascinating to say the least.
"Whoa…" Rio muttered, falling all the way back and hitting his head on the ground. "Ow… but again, whoa."
A strange, sort of familiar sensation filled the air. It was oddly warm, too. Not that Rio minded all that much. Rio picked himself up, stretching out his body and letting out a quiet whine. "Deja vu be damned, I know I've never been here before. And I'm alone too, which sucks…" he sighed.
Behind Rio was a dead end, and above him was just… regular stone. Rio blinked, then shook his head in disbelief. "H-How the hell did I get here?!" he exclaimed. "I-I fell, didn't I? But from where?! H-How?!"
'How the hell should I know?'
"I wasn't asking yo-" Rio blinked. "... You're back?"
'Did I leave?'
"I… don't, uh, know…" Rio blinked again. "It feels like you did. I think. I have no idea…"
'I wonder how many times you'll say that.' The voice in Rio's head laughed, which was not something Rio expected. 'But yeah, sometimes I just kinda fade back into nothingness, so don't expect me to be around for too long.'
It is entirely possible that Rio's mind broke when hit the ground, if he really did hit the ground. Sure the pain was enough to convince Rio he fell, but there was nothing to fall from, and he had a voice in his head laughing at him. "I'm not an expert at knowing when things are not good, but this is not good."
'Wow, I'm hurt! After everything I've done for you, this is how you treat me?' the voice dramatically sighed. 'Kids these days, tsk tsk tsk.'
After taking a second to calm himself, Rio made his way down the hall. Whatever this whole thing was, wasn't going to be fun.
More crystals lit up Rio's path, and that strange sensation seemed to get stronger the deeper into the tunnel he went. It seemed to go on and on, and on, and on… There weren't any turns either. He must've been below the mountain, but how far?
'This is actually… pretty new to me, too. Which means I have nothing to help you with about this place. Whatever it is.'
"So you're about as much help as you were when I thought you were gone?" Rio chuckled.
The voice huffed, and somehow Rio could tell that it was crossing its arms. 'Well I could let you be alone through this endless hallway, have fun going crazier than you already are.'
Rio tapped his chin and hummed. "Maybe I can get a different voice inside my head then?"
'I will actually leave! I swear!'
"Maybe a pirate or something? That'd be pretty cool."
'You stick around Zen too much…'
Rio shrugged. "At least he's less annoying than a voice in my head."
'Hmph!'
Then, a great silence fell over Rio. It was the silent equivalent of hearing birds singing in the morning, or eating bread fresh out of the oven. Rio let out a relaxed sigh, and even had an extra kick in his step. "Finally," he chuckled
After a nice, long stretch of peace and quiet, Rio came up on a large, empty room. The only notable thing there was all the tunnels along the walls. Each one had some combination of gems before it, only pairs from what Rio saw.
Oh, and there was a giant, colorless gem that stuck out of the ceiling.
"H-Holy… That's like the gem in the main lobby of the guild!" Rio laughed, amazed at the size of the gem. "Why is it… empty? No… blank? Bland?" The other gems lighting up the room were colorful, shining and shimmering with splendor, but not the largest one? Rio stood under it and looked up, seeing a dull reflection of himself on the crystal's surface. That sensation he felt earlier was almost entirely absent under the giant gem.
"Weird…" Rio huffed. He reached up to try and touch the gem, but it wasn't anywhere close to him. He shook his head and turned to one of the many tunnels around him. Any of them could lead anywhere, and he was pretty much out of luck in terms of asking for directions.
'What's that?'
Rio looked in some random yet somehow specific direction, spotting something dash out of sight, into one of the tunnels. "... I don't… like that." Despite that, Rio started walking towards the tunnel.
'Maybe don't follow it.'
"It's the only thing here, and I thought you were going to let me go insane from loneliness," Rio sucked his teeth and shook his head. "I'm following it. Better than going somewhere totally blind."
This tunnel in particular had a pair of dark-black crystals before it, and an ominous air flowed out of it. Rio didn't bat an eye walking down it.
'If this comes back to bite you in the ass, don't come crying to me.'
"You're the voice inside my head, you don't get to make that call," Rio scoffed. "It's not like we're gonna find anything down here wanting to bite me. There wasn't an entrance where I woke up. I'd be surprised if anything dangerous was down here."
'You… you serious? You are literally just asking for shit to happen to us.'
"What's the worst that could happen?"
'Shut up. Shut up right this instant.'
"We'll be back home before dinner!"
'I swear to god…'
Rio entered the dark of the tunnel, and he was soon engulfed in darkness. He could feel the closeness of the tunnel open up into a vastness he couldn't see. There wasn't anything behind him, just more darkness.
"Freaky," Rio muttered, continuing deeper into the dark. That figure he was following was already long gone, but it's not like he could turn back now even if he wanted to. "Any idea about any of this?"
'I already said I'm not helping you, unless you apologize.'
Rio scoffed and shrugged. "Fine, guess I'm figuring this out myse-"
A wall suddenly appeared before Rio. He didn't have enough time to save himself from running snout-first into it. He let out a pained growl, rubbing his nose.
"The hell?" Rio barked, looking around. The tunnel he entered was different from the first. Instead of a multitude of colorful gems, the only gems lighting the area were almost pitch black, like the ones before the tunnel Rio entered only moments prior. The air was thicker too, strangely.
"O...kay?" Rio muttered. "This has got nothing but bad vibes…" Regardless, Rio walked down the tunnel.
After a long silence, Rio entered a wide, open room. There was only one other exit, at the other end of the room, but something felt… off. Dangerously so. Rio's skin started to crawl, and his ears flicked. He soon realized that his funny hair thingies were standing straight up. Aura feelers, if he remembered correctly.
"What is-"
'MOVE IT, KID!'
Without hesitation, Rio dove to the side. Mere seconds after he moved, a shadowy figure crashed right where he was just standing, shrouded by the darkness, and a thick cloud of spores.
'Cover your mouth and RUN!'
Rio put his paw over his snout and turned to the exit. He bolted as fast as his legs could take him, not caring in the slightest to figure out what that was.
It wasn't long before the tunnel opened up into a larger room, scattered with more crystals than one would ever ask for. Their 'light' barely helped Rio actually see anything, but he could tell that this room was incredibly more vast than the one he just escaped from. He picked some direction and sprinted, side-stepping crystals along the way.
Rio's skin crawled again, and his eyes darted in every direction.
'Sharp turn! I don't care which direction!'
Just before Rio passed another gem, he tried to slow down, bashing his knee against it as he scrambled to another direction. The pain was quickly drowned out by the sound of Rio's heart pounding in his ears. He was about to come up on a large cluster of gems, nearly twice as tall as him.
'Jump!'
"What, but I can't-" Rio stammered.
'Just do it!'
It felt like Rio couldn't waste any time, but he obviously wasn't going to make it over those gems. He made another tight turn, skidding his feet along the floor and bashing his shoulder into the gem cluster. He let out a hiss, but kept moving.
'What the hell are you doing?!'
"I'm clearly not as crazy as you! How the hell am I supposed to make a jump like that?" Rio growled, stumbling over a small crystal.
'Wha- Are you- HARD LEFT! HARD LEFT!'
Another shadowy, spore-cloaked creature appeared just before Rio. It looked… quite big. The Lucario let out a yelp, sliding onto his side as he tried to avoid whatever that was. From the cloud of spores, a pincer claw jutted out, scratching the side of Rio's leg.
"GAH!" Rio exclaimed, then immediately clamped his snout shut and held his breath. He tried to kick at what attacked him. Whatever he hit was springy or spongey, and more spores appeared around the figure.
'GET UP, RIO!'
Rio tried to kick a few more times, panicking, and scrambled back onto his feet. His leg stung, but it wasn't unbearable at least. "Wh-What was that?!"
'It doesn't matter, just run! The exit is just up ahead!'
"How do you-" Rio's ear flicked and his skin crawled. He dove forward again, narrowly avoiding a cloud of spores that was coming directly for his head. "O-Okay I believe you!"
Just like the voice said, Rio could vaguely see a tunnel just ahead of him. A smile stretched along his maw as he let out a relieved sigh. "Finally!"
'Don't stop yet, keep going!'
Rio's ears flicked again. He tried to pick up his pace. His aura feelers rose just as he dashed into the tunnel, and a loud thud fell behind him. Spores flooded into the tunnel. Rio clamped his snout shut with both paws and whined. He didn't care to breath until his skin stopped crawling, which wasn't for a while.
Rio leaned against the wall of the tunnel, panting and gasping for air. His legs were sore, his lungs burned, and the sound of blood rushing through his body pounded against his ears.
"What..? Why..? Who..?" he sputtered, clutching his chest.
'We need to keep moving. Take a rest, but not for long.'
"A-At least… tell me what's going on..?" Rio swallowed. "I thought you said you didn't know anything about this place?"
'I don't, I'm only using what you should have been. Our senses.'
Rio leaned his back against the wall, letting his head rest on it. "Right… the aura sense. But how did you see the exit?"
There was a moment of pause. 'You… Do you even know how to actually use your aura sense?' Rio didn't answer. The voice in his head sighed. 'I am going to stop myself from saying how bad this is… Ok, first, get to moving. We're about to have the most crash course session on "How to be a Lucario."'
The next room Rio found was wide and flat, with very few crystals to poorly illuminate it. A gentle draft rolled through the air, which helped make everything feel less stuffy.
'Dark, seemingly empty, and big. Perfect!'
"That sounds like the opposite of perfect," Rio tittered. "A-And what do you mean by seemingly empty?"
'You'll see for yourself, now shut up and close your eyes.'
"So I can see even less?" Rio rolled his eyes. "Or maybe you have a surprise, like a way to get out of here?"
'Yes, now shut up, and close your eyes.'
Rio blinked. "Oh, uh, ok." He clamped his eyes shut, unknowingly hiding his tail between his legs. "N-Now what? How do I get out of here?"
'I'm gonna summon a portal to get us out of here.'
"Wha- really?!" Rio exclaimed excitedly.
'No, you're gonna walk, dummy. Now come on, we don't have all day.'
Rio growled. "Are you at least going to tell me where to go?"
'Lemme answer your question as long winded and verbosely as possible. Ehem…'
"Oh for-"
'Since when did you take me so seriously? Geez, loosen up a bit, Rio! Listen, you're a Lucario. A Master of Aura. A prime example of peak performance!'
"And what does that have to do with getting out of here?!"
'You have an innate ability to sense aura, but you think that only living things have aura, don't you?'
"That's what I was taught, and my aura sense has been on the fritz si-"
'Well you were taught wrong. Everything has aura, from the air you breathe to the stone beneath your feet, no matter how faint it might be, it's still there. You can sense it already, I know you can.'
Rio opened his mouth to speak, but didn't have anything to say.
'A normal Lucario would need years to attune their bodies to sense the aura of the planet, but you? You have a convenient shortcut. Not only are you an Outlander, but this body was already perfectly fitted for this.'
"What?" Rio's ear twitched. "What do you..?"
'There'll be a time and place for me to catch you up on all this, but not here or now. I need you to trust me, listen to your body, and walk. Preferably before we're caught up to. No pressure.'
How reassuring. Rio took a deep breath, and gulped. His nerves were on edge, and he didn't fully believe what that voice was telling him. But it was worth a shot at least, right? He just had to feel the world around him. Sure it sounded crazy, but… no, no that's about it.
The voice in Rio's head sighed. 'Rio, I get that you don't want to be here, but standing around is not helping us get out of here.''
"Blindly walking in the dark isn't something you can just do, you know! And I still don't feel or sense anything! I-It's just… I don't know!" Rio huffed, opening his eyes back up. The dark barely changed; his eyes hadn't even adjusted. "If you know how this works, then tell me how to get out of here!"
'What are you going to do when I inevitably fade away again, Rio? Just sit on your paws and let yourself get caught by those things?'
"I won't have to worry about that if you just tell me how to get out of here!" Rio barked.
'Are you seri- fine, fine whatever. Move forward.'
"Thank you," Rio cleared his throat and marched ahead. "Is there anything following me?"
'...'
"Hello?" Rio looked back, as if someone would have been there instead of the dark of the cave. "Uh, is anyone else with us, dude?"
'...'
Rio's fur stood on end. "If you're giving me the silent treatment, this is not a good time for that!"
The silence somehow felt even quieter, and Rio froze in place. He was actually alone. In the dark. Without the voice in his head to guide him. That felt like it should have been a good thing.
"Alright, cool, fine, this is whatever, no big deal," Rio gulped, walking forward on shaky legs. "I'm perfectly fine, and alone! Perfectly alone! Alone and fine! Finely perfect!"
The draft from before left, and the quiet stillness of everything was unsettling, but it being that much quieter made it easier to know Rio was alone. There weren't many noises after all; his breathing, the sound of his heart beating against his chest, and the oh-so pleasant and not at all irritating dull hum that hung in the air like an awkwardly and inappropriately timed confession of love.
...Rio didn't know why that was the first thing to come to mind. He got a small chuckle out of it at least.
It was hard to tell how much time had passed, Rio was too busy trying not to think about what was happening to keep track, but it must've been a while since his legs started to get sore. His eyes barely adjusted to the darkness, and the idea that it was too dark for his eyes to adjust was not something he wanted to even consider humoring. Basically, he was still lost in the dark. Nothing looked different, and for some reason the few gems there were, got even fewer.
Rio slowed his pace and let out a sigh. "God… dammit. I wish there was, like, a map or something…" he muttered. For a moment, the thing the voice said rang in his head…
'Everything has aura…'
'You can sense it, I know you can.'
"Even if I could, I haven't been able to sense anything for a while now," Rio hissed, putting his paw to his chin. He started walking forward, growling as he thought. "Ok, I gotta think this through… What happened?"
Rio winced, feeling a shock course through his body. Flashbacks of him getting shocked over and over again played in his head. "R-Right, our fights with Nari. And I took her discharge too, which messed a whole lot up… But couldn't I still sense aura after that?"
A brief dizzy spell fell over Rio, causing him to stumble. He tripped over a small, dark crystal, catching himself just before he hit the ground. "I… I blacked out? I remember… I remember that. It was after I tried to heal Minerva." Rio blinked, holding his head with a paw. "Didn't I… Didn't I drop something? Why is it so hard to remember this, didn't it basically just happen?"
It started to feel like he was forgetting something. Several somethings. He tried to retrace his mental steps, getting back to his feet and walking aimlessly through the room.
A gentle, cool breeze, and wobbly legs. Tree bark on his paws, smooth grass and crunchy leaves under his feet. A comforting red bush, an energetic red and brown shrub, and a sweet and wise red-leafed tree. An aggressive speck of gold, a friendly wall of strength, a pair of kindred birds, and heaven in edible form. Waves lapping at the shore, and salted seaside air.
Rio was suddenly hit with a sharp pain to his stomach. He fell to a knee, growling painfully. Something looked down at him, disappointed and furious. It called him weak, oh so very weak… A sense of danger overwhelmed Rio, and he suddenly held his arm up to block whatever it was…
But nothing came to him. Instead, a flash of blue light appeared above him. Rio raised his head up, eyes widening as he saw a blue flame around his paw, bathing the immediate area in a beautiful azure color.
"Wh-What is…" Rio stuttered, standing back up. The flame didn't hurt, it actually felt… warmly familiar. Its blaze danced calmly on his paw, with blue embers rising and dissipating off of it. He tried to shake it off, but it stayed right where it was on him. "Is this… my aura?"
"..!?" Rio's body was then entirely engulfed by the aura. He was surprised at first, but basked in its warmth soon after. His body felt… better. It was hard for him to properly describe it. "...I can get used to this."
'A very roundabout way of things, but execution aside, I can give you bonus points for speed.'
"Oh you're back." Rio blinked, holding his head again. "...You.. it's funny, or maybe more strange, actually, but… I feel like I should recognize you."
'...Huh. What makes you say that?'
Rio shrugged. "Just a feeling… and a strong one too. It's almost kinda creepy the more I think about it."
'What's the first name that comes to mind when you think of me?'
Rio paused for a moment. For a brief moment, he started to feel seasick. "...Captain."
'Captain isn't a name…'
"Well it could be," Rio huffed. "Oh yeah, screw you for ditching me in the dark, prick."
'Hey, me pretending to leave helped you remember how to use your aura. Don't get mad at me for helping fix you. Speaking of, try and sense things now.'
Rio scoffed and crossed his arms. "Fine, but only because I want t-" his aura feelers suddenly shot up, and he froze. Stone, stone all around him. The crystals all suddenly lit up like beacons. A faint haze he hadn't even noticed before. He could feel everything, and even then the area was so vast that most of it still felt dark…
Except for just a few yards before him, where the wall of the area stood, and directly before him was the exit.
"I was heading this direction the whole time…" Rio blinked.
'Yup, you didn't falter for a second. Told you that you knew how to sense things.'
Rio let out a chuckle, smiling and running his paws along his head. "I-I can't believe it… I can't believe it!"
'Hey now! Keep it down! Don't forget what was chasing us before this.'
"Right, yeah," Rio nodded. "Actually… gimme a second." He turned back around, holding his paw out. It felt like he could see for forever, but… "Nothing, we're actually alone here."
'That's funny, when you asked me a while back, they were trying to surround us.'
"WHAT?!" Rio's aura flared wildly.
'Oh don't be all extra, they're gone now. Probably thanks to that blue light you're shining.'
"I could have been SWARMED by MONSTERS!" Rio shouted. "What the literal HELL?!"
'I couldn't risk having you panic and lose your focus!'
"So you decided not to tell me about the things trying to KILL ME?!"
'Yes. For science.'
Rio let out a series of choked noises rich with anger he just couldn't verbally express.
'As much fun as it is to get you all nettled, how about we get a move on?'
Rio rolled his eyes and started walking again, when another thing sort of stuck in his mind. "Did… When I was trying to remember what you said earlier, did you just… whisper it in my head?"
'Well I didn't not do that."
"I'm gonna find some way to punch you," Rio huffed, turning back to the exit. "And I will make sure it hurts."
'Could always punch yourself in the face.'
"Keep this up and I just might."
The exit was another one of those "leads to an empty void larger than the tunnel itself" sorts of tunnels. It didn't feel as long for Rio to get through this time around, which he was more than relieved by. Strangely, he didn't seem to sense anything there, up until he smashed his face into another wall. Somehow. Again.
'You gotta be more careful.'
"Forgive me for walking, and not seeing the wall magically appear before my face," Rio hissed, rubbing his snout.
'Oh, it's not magic. Well… it kinda is. Kinda-sorta. Maybe? I can't tell yet.'
Rio blinked, growling lightly. "If you're trying to say that you actually do know something about this place…"
'Nononono, I don't know anything specific about this place, this is the first time I've been here. Technically. But I know about what kind of place it is.'
Rio sneezed, shaking his entire body and scattering particles of aura in front of him. "And you decided not to fill me in because?"
'You had more important things to do, like fixing yourself and not dying. Besides, knowing what this place is about as helpful as learning the genre of a song before you listen to it. It's better to just go in blind and see what happens.'
"That sounds unnecessarily risky…" Rio deadpanned.
'I mean, yeah. Never said it wasn't.'
Rio groaned and shook his head. This voice had a knack for irritating him, unfortunately. Instead of focusing on that, for his own sake, Rio decided to turn around and check out where he got to. The very first thing his eyes went to was the giant, colorless crystal in the middle of the room… attached to the ceiling.
"We made it back here?" Rio blinked, looking behind him. That tunnel he first went down was right there, it almost looks like he came right from it. Would have been better if he actually did instead of looking like an idiot walking into walls.
'So we did…' the voice hummed. 'We'll have to see what happens when we get into the other floors, but right now this is starting to feel… hold on.'
"What?"
'Use your aura sense for a sec. I want to make sure I'm not the only one feeling this. And I also want to make sure you can turn it on and off at will.'
Admittedly, Rio was a bit nervous about finding out. If he couldn't, would he have to go back into that 'floor' as the voice called it? Rio shuddered at the thought. Luckily, like flipping a switch, that blue aura appeared around his body again.
The room felt the same as it looked, and, unsurprisingly, this room felt different from the one before. Everything felt vibrant, and at first, Rio thought there were other auras here with him. But no one else was here...
"What is that?" Rio asked, looking for whatever the source or sources were. He tried to focus his sense, holding out his paw. It slowly aimed at one of the gems, and everytime Rio aimed it away, it'd slowly go back to another gem. "Wait, what? I know you said everything had aura, but..."
'Mhmm,' the voice chuckled. 'Now try sensing that big gem above us.'
Rio nodded, holding his paw upwards. He flinched, reeling his paw back. "Th-There's nothing?! Nothing at all!"
'Exactly. This place is definitely special, and I'm willing to bet it's artificial too… but we should try and find the others. If we're lucky, they might also be looking for you too.'
"The others? What do you mean?" Rio asked. "And, also, what do you mean by this place being artificial?"
'In due time, again. I'll fill you in as much as I can along the way about this place, and as for the others… you really thought you came here by yourself?"
"Honestly… up until I got attacked by a cloud of spores, I thought I was dreaming," Rio tittered. "But if everyone else is here, then I gotta hurry and find them."
'For your own sake.'
"Oh har dee har. Just because I'm the only one that can't really fight doesn't mean I'm helpless."
'Says the guy that ran from every encounter we've had down here so far.'
Rio huffed and crossed his arms. "I don't see you fighting."
'Would if I could, bitch,' the voice laughed. 'Anywho, I say we go down… they tunnel with those electric aura gems in front of it. The yellow ones.'
"Why that one specifically?" Rio asked, already walking towards it. It was already rather close, so it wasn't much trouble. He rested his paws on one of the gems, feeling static crawl up and down his arm.
'It's just a hunch, but I feel like these are indicators of where each tunnel leads. That one with the dark gems led us to that dark floor full of more of those gems, and I know you can tell the difference between the feel of this area and that one.'
"Yeah, that place was…" Rio shuddered. "Just a whole lotta bad."
'Yeah. I just want to see what happens when we go into another floor. Hopefully it won't take too long for us to get back here from there.'
Rio nodded. That wouldn't be a hard theory to test, and it's not like either of them had better to do. He stood before the tunnel, feeling more static flow from it. "Alright, but what if we don't end up on a floor you expect?"
Somehow, Rio felt the voice shrug. 'Then we wing it. We're basically pros at that already.'