Everything should be fine as we go through this. This is the best place!

You know what to expect when going through a portal? Course you don't. Your life probably doesn't have actual Pokémon thrown into it. I still didn't know what to predict whenever we went through yet another glowing slinky, but I'd gotten to form ideas out of the patterns. Another dungeon, another boss, and— if we were lucky— some of the berries I actually liked.

What I didn't expect was a miracle.

We finally arrived at a God-given gift: a spring. Yeah, maybe not the most glamorous, but it was the biggest body of water we'd seen in a while. Not to mention the fact that it was clear, unlike the dark water in that level with the endless night. It was also different in the way that it seemed built by someone. It had an old Mayan feel to it, with stone blocks holding the water in. You could see the bottom. You know, like an actual functioning basin. Which brought me to start an uncomfortable discussion.

"When's the last time any of us have, like, tried to clean themselves?"

Silence. I knew the answer, because I'd spent day and night with these people for literal weeks. It wasn't an answer I was comfortable with, and basically everyone except Kieran had started to smell at some point. Micheal was the worst culprit.

"I always thought animals just... didn't need to that often?" Kieran said, rubbing the back of his head with his stinger.

"We're not even actually animals, are we?" Micheal, the absolute stink-lion, asked. "Would that apply to Pokémon?"

Kieran reprised. "Well, in Sun, you don't need to wash Pokémon in-game—"

Chloe gasped, looking offended. "Yeah, if you're a bad trainer!"

"You know something you also don't need to do in-game? Feed them."

There was another awkward pause as everyone looked at Gab. Man, she might not say a lot, but anytime she did, it was something.

"That does it," I snapped. "We're all going in the spring, even if it means me throwing all of you in personally."

As I said that, I supplexed the lion of the hour, to his surprised yelp and to Lola's fairly loud chuckle. As we got closer...

"In we go, fur ball!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Micheal yelled at me, paws and tail flailing in all directions. He was just funny when turned upside down. "Aren't I a fire thing?"

Oh. Suddenly, I remembered the jolt of panic he'd experienced at the first battle, as well as when he'd been freed from the Dark Trap.

His desperate head swung to Kieran. "Won't the water... hurt me, maybe?"

Kieran brought his stinger to his chin. He was getting the hang of those. "It's one of the things they never make clear. Fire types are sometimes totally okay with hot springs from what I can tell; it's in battle that they're for sure weak to water."

"Then maybe we're weak to cold?"

"I don't know, ice moves aren't super effective..."

I heard Lola yell something out. "It's either that or licking yourself! You're a cat, right?"

As I still hung Micheal over my head, I felt his body turn limp in my grasp. "Throw me," he said.

And I obliged.

I took a running start, jumped, and dunked him in the water. He made a pretty big splash, which seriously overshadowed my graceful dive in. As I was falling, I could catch a glimpse of everyone except Lola- all already soaked. Well, maybe they didn't need the spring anymore.

I finally made contact, and plunged deep into the fresh water. I didn't make a splash as far as I could tell, even with my freakishly huge head. I opened my eyes to look around. It was surprisingly not painful, and I could see well. Either this spring was cleaner than I'd thought, or Meditite eyes were just better at this. I let myself relish in the soft sound of water and bubbles for a moment.

Then, my eyes snapped to Micheal, who was possibly in need of support. He didn't look it at the moment, but he was the one Fire type in the group. Anyway, I was in the water if he needed anything.

I swam to the surface to take a breath, faced with the damage I'd caused. The spring was still full of waves from Micheal's impact. He seemed to be okay, as he bobbed up and down, doing a casual doggy paddle. Kieran had by far the most emotional reaction to getting splashed, muttering to himself while trying to shake the water off his wings. Gab was silently testing the water with one front paw, and Chloe was already floating and playing with the drops in a very duck-like manner. Our resident edgelord, the only one still dry in the group, padded over.

"Aren't you going in?" I asked, leaning against the land's edge and mustering up my best threatening grin. I wanted to convey that I had as much will to throw her as I did Micheal, and mischief seemed to be the only language Lola understood.

"No can do, Val. Not unless you want the smell of wet dog with you for all of the next dungeon," she answered, lying down next to me.

"I'd rather that than you get sick," I replied, more out of not wanting to deal with her than actual concern.

She sighed and shrugged. I waited for a reply, but apparently she'd decided to leave me hanging. I raised my hand just a foot above the water, ready for impact. If she needed a splash to get her started...

My eye suddenly caught Kieran walking toward the spring. I immediately abandoned my attack plan in favour of stopping the walking venom dispenser from getting into the water everyone was in.

"Kieran, wait!" I swam over to him. "We don't know what your poison will do here."

He groaned, crossing his stingers. "You were the one insisting on giving me a splash."

He was annoyed, but clearly he understood that there was a danger. I knew firsthand that Kieran's poison left one drained for a while, even if cured, and with however many dungeons and enemies there could be left... I didn't want to take any chances.

We stayed in the water for a while, Lola jumping in eventually, and then Micheal announced that we had to get out for Kieran. I could've sworn that the water took on a slight purplish hue after a couple minutes with him in it.

Well, not like we're planning on drinking it.

Hopefully.

Now, one thing we didn't consider while getting in was towels. Most of us didn't need them. Micheal even pulled off a perfect 'dog getting dry' impression, drenching everyone in a five meter radius. He was outshined almost immediately by Lola, who had longer and thicker fur, so she held more water. To my dismay, she did end up smelling like wet dog.

She saw the look on my face and shrugged, grinning. "Told you."

I had never been this angry at being right.

While taking a break was nice, we couldn't really afford it. The sooner we got past this level, the sooner we could power through the rest. I could deduce more would come, and wanted them over with. I was sure everyone else did too.

So we did what we did best: we wandered around like idiots trying to make sense of our surroundings. We'd dropped in the middle of a tiled stone path, and we walked it, leaving damp footprints on the white granite. This level reminded me of a jungle. The climate was hotter, especially after the sky-high excursion we'd dealt with earlier today. Palm trees and vines towered over hostas and other leafy bushes. And, the worst part... it was humid. At least, there were no mosquitoes to be found, as was the constant with other locales we'd visited. No bugs (minus Kieran) made me a happy camper.

What added to the intrigue was that clearly, this looked like a civilized area. The basin we'd stopped by was made of big granite bricks, and so was the road we were walking on. There was even the odd sun-bleached statue that we saw poking through the foliage. They reminded me of a cross between French gargoyles and Mayan statues. Kieran insisted they were Pokémon, though.

"That's a Grumpig!" He announced, a bit too giddy. It was nice to know his fanboy side could be so easily brought out. He was smiling so much that I could've confused him with Chloe.

"Oh, you're right!" Said the aforementioned Swablu, hopping around like no one's business. Her feathers still weren't dry enough for flying. "And that one's gotta be an Espeon!"

Lola piped up. "What about you, Gab? Any guesses?"

The Emolga mumbled something about the statues being too stylized for her to be sure. But a Pikachu's a Pikachu, right? If you knew your Pokémon, it had to be somewhat obvious.

As we walked and talked, the sun glared down on us. I found myself feeling somewhat vulnerable under the harsh UV rays. Did we need sunscreen as Pokémon? Could a Meditite even get sunburns? What would it look like on blue skin? All stupid questions that wormed their way into my every waking moment. Being here was just stupid, and my classmates played along.

Soon enough, we reached the end of the path, a large clearing facing us. It looked man-made, with a large square granite floor and an opening that led to another brick path on the opposite side. The outdoor room was overgrown with grass and tree roots, the vegetation jutting out through the gaps in the bricks. On the left, there was a tall brick wall. On the right stood rows of granite blocks, each row taller than the one in front of it. The bricks were too wide to just be stairs. They looked more like places where people could sit.

Bleachers, I realized.

"This is a stadium," Kieran said. "Or, like, a really old-timey theatre."

You could really count on him to be smart one second and an idiot the next, huh? I turned back to the group, gesturing a hand toward the place. "I'm gonna go with that first option. Sports area makes way more sense. Let's go!"

"Hold on! My trap radar's going off," Micheal warned, and I stopped mid-stride. "I think we should go around."

I rolled my eyes. "Lola, you're supposed to be a danger detector, or something," I said. "What say you?"

"Seems fine," the Absol yawned. She looked as aloof and relaxed as usual, if a little tired.

"Has she predicted anything before, though?" Micheal insisted. "We've been through a lot of stuff I would qualify as dangerous! I don't need superpowers to—"

I walked backward, facing him and keeping eye contact while I entered the clearing. The Litleo just cringed before sighing in defeat.

I mean, I did it to prove a point. And of course, I was right. Nothing happened: no rumble, no boss battle, no booby traps.

A few moments had passed before Micheal nodded and came forward, followed by the others after crossing the threshold. That moment of silence, with everyone waiting for Micheal's approval— that caught my attention. Come to think of it, why did we always follow Micheal's word anyway? He wasn't the most authoritative, or the most logical. He wasn't even the most optimistic. He was just kind of there.

"So... a stadium," he said. "Is this someplace the level wants us to stop at, or just decoration?"

Gab slowly slid her hand across the surface of a brick. "Maybe it's just a place where we can practice."

I scoffed. "After the disaster that was the last level, and every other one before it? Yeah, we need it. What do you say, Micheal? Wanna go?"

I got into a battle stance right there, fists close to my face. This took the Litleo aback, eyes wide and ears alert. Even though I was focused on him, I noticed the rest of the surprised group, looking back and forth with curiosity.

"Uh... sure," Micheal mumbled. "Let's fight after dinner."

Lola sighed, relieved. "Right on. I'm starving!"

A/N: Happy birthday, Jake!