Luca was stunned by what Celebi had shared, but somehow, it was secondary. Primary was her surprise at the fact that she genuinely couldn't think of any further questions. It made sense to her that the White Spine's influence would eventually be disastrous: with them removing 'problematic' Pokémon, the overall capability of the world's population would decrease as stagnation set in. There would be exceptions like Lann, of course, but it was still rendering the world weaker. Whether the White Spine had a plan to take advantage of this or an unrelated disaster would occur, a weaker world meant a more fragile one.

Put simply, there were no unanswered questions. Luca knew why she was brought to the Pokémon world, she knew what the White Spine was and why parts of it were after her, and she knew where to find out who she was as a human if she felt like knowing. The one lingering mystery, if she could call it that, was the family of Kecleon's strange willingness to help her, but the more she thought, the more she justified it to herself. Perhaps they saw she was distressed and simply decided to help, displaying some of the trust that the White Spine claimed to be all about creating.

"Looks like your friends ended up deciding to sleep," Celebi whispered.

Luca jumped. Freshly released from her thoughts, she looked back to the others.

All three of them were asleep, with Callula uncharacteristically detached from Isle's crown. Dante was curled up around his own tail-flame, and although he was blocking some of the light, the bright moonlight meant Luca wasn't feeling anxious about being in the dark. Even Marshadow was asleep, though his form was near-indiscernible from the shadow he reclined in.

"You know, my abilities allow me to be quite knowledgeable," Celebi continued, keeping her voice quiet. "You'd be surprised about the questions I'm able to answer."

"How did you—"

"I am, after all, a psychic-type. Go ahead and ask."

"...Why did the Kecleon help me so willingly?"

"It's precisely what you were thinking. The one you met in Hollyhead pitied you and could tell you were being chased. He sent word to help you just in case you needed it. No conspiracy, no ulterior motive—just good old-fashioned kindness."

"If you can read my mind, why are you even bothering to wait for a question? No, even better, why are we spending the night here, just so I can scrape the bottom of the barrel searching for one?"

"Now that's the question you should have been asking," Celebi whispered, a gleam in her eye. "I'll answer it with my own. Did you notice that the instant I was seemingly distracted by our conversation, Marshadow disappeared into the shadows?"

Luca checked to see that the shadow was, in fact, now empty. "Um. Next question, then. Where did he go?"

"Where do you think? He went back to Volcarona to report on what he learned. My turn: how do you think Volcarona will react when she learns that you're in this dimension exclusively to bring an end to the White Spine?"

Luca considered the question. "I don't know. She cares a lot about the White Spine's mission, but she also seems to care about the overall happiness of the world. She might accept that it needs to happen."

"Incorrect. She will be ecstatic."

"...Why?"

"She'll feel that her work has finally been successful enough to be seen as a problem by the Legendaries themselves. She'll have a rush of satisfaction, closely followed by determination to see her plans through."

"By doing what?"

"With arrogance befitting her position, she'll believe you to be the final obstacle to her success. She'll throw everything she has at you."

"Is she really that short-sighted? That she'll keep the White Spine going despite what it'll cause in the future?"

"Quite the opposite, actually. She's looking ahead, keeping the White Spine going specifically because of what it leads to. Here comes another question: what is the White Spine's true purpose, do you think?"

"...To cause the timeline that Mew wanted to avoid?" Luca guessed.

"A quick answer, and so very correct!" Celebi whispered, grinning. "I must say, you're quite sharp. Yes, Volcarona created the White Spine for a single long-term goal: to leave the world in ruin. You even guessed the method by which it was to happen in your thoughts earlier. Volcarona was forced to accept early on in her life that a single Pokémon, no matter how strong, could never truly make a difference in the world. With strength being so common among Pokémon, even a large group was unlikely to make lasting changes—so instead of bolstering her own strength, she decided to use her longevity to sabotage the strength of her enemies."

"Her enemies being... everyone?"

"Mhm!"

"But... why?" Luca asked, hearing the desperation in her own voice. "She just decided one day to spend hundreds of years of her life trying destroy the world?"

"Yes. I'm afraid there's no reason beyond her warped little heart hating the world and everything in it. She's had hundreds of years to perfect her mantra, her acting, and her organization—all to expertly hide the fact that at her core, she's a child that wants to get rid of what she doesn't like."

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

For just a single moment, all levity disappeared from Celebi's voice: "For Mew." Then, when she continued, her voice returned to normal. "You're a bit outmatched here, Luca. If I want Mew's request to be fulfilled, I need to give you some help."

Luca couldn't help but sigh. She was so, so tired. "At least I know there's going to be an army after me, now. Still not sure how I'm meant to survive."

"You'll figure it out. You'll also find that whenever you choose to leave this forest, it will be the morning before you arrived at the White Spine's headquarters. So sleep, take your time formulating a plan, and enjoy your head start—but this is the last bit of help I can give you."

"Thanks for all your help, Celebi."

Celebi shrugged. "Thank Mew. Now, I've had quite enough of being genuine, so I'll leave you be. If you have any more questions, I'll be around at first light."

Celebi simply disappeared into thin air with a bright poof. Luca rubbed her eyes, but she couldn't find it in herself to feel drowsy enough to sleep. It was time to plan.

When Dante awoke, he was pleasantly surprised. Despite the fact that they were still in Celebi's forest, he was waking up to the sun as if everything was normal.

Luca had apparently gone to sleep at some point as well, as she was leaning against him to be close to his flame. Isle and Callula were close by, each spread out on the soft grass. Dante didn't see Marshadow, but Celebi was also present. Rather than sleeping, she was floating high above the forest floor, lazily swaying back and forth as she hummed to herself. It was a haunting but jaunty tune that Dante didn't recognize.

Celebi's eyes were closed and she seemed unaware of his presence, so Dante slid his single hand below Luca's head and let her down onto the grass gently. Then he stood up and walked closer to Celebi.

Once he was mostly below her, Dante called up to her: "Hello."

"Mmm," Celebi said with a big stretch. "Hi."

"Do you know where Marshadow went?"

"I do!"

"...Are you willing to tell me?"

"I don't know. Why should I? Do you have anything to offer me?"

"I mean, obviously not."

"Eh, you're no fun," Celebi said, rolling her eyes. "Luca knows, so just ask her whenever she wakes up. Should be a while, though: she was up late."

Dante felt at the back of his head for his horn, rubbing it to calm his nerves. "Not that I think your control of time is worth using for such a trivial thing, but couldn't you just skip to when she wakes up?"

"I could, but it's quite peaceful in this forest, no? Perhaps you should take this rare opportunity to relax. Who knows what could be on the horizon?"

Dante felt a spike of irritation, but forced himself to ignore it; his fits of pride were easier to shake off since he had evolved, but they definitely still turned up at inopportune moments. "I've been resting for far too long while Luca has had it so rough. She's the one who needs the extra time, not me."

"Ugh, fine. Just don't tell anyone I did this. The others first, though."

Without the least bit of ceremony, Isle and Callula woke up. They didn't suspect a thing, behaving normally as they checked on each other first and, upon seeing that they both were awake, having a quiet conversation.

Then, Luca stirred. She sat up, rubbing her eyes and blinking to wake up. Rather than speaking to Isle and Callula right next to her, Luca opted to instead walk over to Dante and Celebi.

"Hey," the little Riolu said, pausing for a moment mid-sentence to yawn. "Did Celebi tell you anything?"

"Nothing."

"OK," Luca said, nodding towards Isle and Callula. "Come here, I'll explain everything."

Dante followed her over to the others, where she spoke politely once her presence was acknowledged: "Hey, is now a good time to bring everyone up to speed?"

Isle nodded, and Callula floated down to sit in the Weavile's lap. Dante took his place sitting next to them, and they all prepared to listen.

"OK, so long story short, Volcarona is evil and Marshadow left to report to her. She, and by extension the entire White Spine, will be trying to kill me now."

Luca suddenly seemed uncomfortable as she continued. "I guess the first thing is you all need to decide whether you want to continue helping me. I had plenty of time to plan last night, and I have a plan for whichever combination of you want to help, if any. If you want out now, you don't need to feel guilty. Honestly, I doubt they'll care about anyone but me, so if you leave now, I think you'll be safe."

"Ooh," came Celebi's voice from close behind Dante, causing him to jump; he hadn't noticed that she was right behind them. "The desperate gamble for support. Classic."

"Hush, you're not helping," Luca said with surprising forcefulness.

Celebi giggled in response.

"It's your decision," Luca continued. "Each of you. I figure it's safer for both parties for those leaving to not know the plan, so..."

Having said her piece, Luca went quiet and let it sit. Dante waited patiently for the other two to speak: he already knew his answer and was more curious about what the ex-agents would choose to do.

Between them, Callula spoke first: "Um..." the tiny Comfey began, obviously feeling awkward about breaking the established silence. "First, I'll say that I'm following Isle with whatever she chooses to do. Second, what does that mean, 'Volcarona is evil'? Evil to what extent?"

"Evil to the extent that the White Spine's actual purpose is to weaken the world to the degree that it eventually falls apart. Honestly, she might even unleash Giratina now."

"She will!" came Celebi's voice from behind.

"...Yeah. So I guess it's worth mentioning that if you choose to help me, you'll basically be joining my attempt to save the world, and I can't imagine it'll be the least bit easy or safe."

"What was it you said, Callula?" Isle said. "We can actually choose to do the right thing, now? I think we're staying with Luca."

"I am too," Dante added.

"What?" Luca blurted out, full of surprise. "Really? I was sure you were going to leave."

"Why?"

"I—I felt your Aura! I was sure that you would want to live."

"I rate my chances higher staying with you, honestly—especially if you have a plan."

"OK," Luca sighed, entirely unable to hide the stark relief on her face. "Uh. Thanks, you guys."

"Sure," Isle said with a curt nod. "Now what's this plan?"

"OK. So Celebi's agreed to make it so when we leave the forest, it'll be the morning before we all arrived at the headquarters. We have to assume there's no way for the White Spine to properly predict this, so this gives us an opportunity to sneak away and get to safety—specifically, Harvest. If we can get to Lann without being discovered, he'll be able to protect us. Now Callula, you can sustain both yourself and Isle without sleep or sustenance, and Isle, you can travel quite fast and stealthily. You two will rush to Harvest and let Lann know what's going on, and he'll come out to get us. Fine?"

"Two things," Isle said. "First, what direction is Harvest?"

"It's west," Celebi piped up from behind them. "You've been transported all the way to the eastern coast of the continent!"

"...Thank you, Celebi," Isle said somewhat awkwardly. "Second, when we saw him, Lann said that he can't leave Harvest."

Luca continued: "That's why Dante and I will be traveling to Harvest at our own pace, avoiding towns and doing our best to live off of dungeon meat and natural water. Even if Lann doesn't come searching for us, we'll make it to Harvest eventually, so long as we play it safe."

"...That makes a lot of sense, actually," Dante admitted. "We can't move as fast as them, and I assume they're not willing to eat meat."

"We're not," Isle firmly asserted. "And yes, I think that's the best plan we can have in this situation. Well done, Luca."

Dante watched Luca flush at the unexpected compliment as she responded: "Thanks. Um... Is there anything else before we head out?"

Isle shared a brief glance with Callula during which she gave a tiny shrug. "I think the only problem is that Lann might not believe we even met you," Isle said, turning back. "Is there anything I can tell him that will convince him that I'm telling the truth?"

Dante watched as Luca's brow furrowed with deep thought before quickly changing to a coy little smile. "Tell him that my Aura has grown a lot at this point, and that I've managed to learn force palm."

"That's it? That'll be enough?"

"Should be. He'll understand, I think."

"Alright." Suddenly, Isle stood as Callula deftly took her place behind the crown. "We'll see you in about three weeks if you make good time, or less if Lann actually comes to get you. Good luck, Luca, Dante."

With that, the two ex-agents disappeared as Isle launching herself away with blinding speed.

"Ah, there they go," Celebi said faux-wistfully. "Off on their selfless mission of being precisely as safe as if they didn't help to begin with. What noble souls."

"Thank you for everything, Celebi," Luca said earnestly, despite the mythic's insincerity.

"I did this for Mew and Dialga—no one else," Celebi asserted with sudden uncharacteristic seriousness. "Do not return to this forest without an invitation." Then, without waiting for a response, she disappeared into a poof of light.

Dante allowed himself a sigh of relief at her departure. Regardless of how much help Celebi had supplied, the only thing that would bring him more relief would be to leave her forest far behind. "Seems we've got quite the trip ahead of us," he said, finally standing. "What do you say we get started?"

"Yeah, OK," Luca smiled. "Lead the way. We should definitely talk about the specifics of this trip, though."

Dante began walking west, briefly double-checking the sun's location. "Like what?"

"Like for starters, we don't have a map that'll mark the dungeons like we did in the mountains, and I have no idea where we'd even begin to get something like that."

"A good amount of them should have a marker at the entrance, actually. Every time the Coalition explored a new dungeon, the team would leave a marker with the dungeon's ID number."

"...How did I never learn that?"

"Even if you were organizing the reports, I always dealt with the dungeon ID stuff, remember?"

"Sure, but you'd think I would have learned it, like, randomly. Was there a marker at the dungeon you found me in? And at the berry dungeon? And all of the dungeons we visited in the mountains?"

"There weren't any in the mountains, but otherwise, yes. To be fair, in both cases, you had other things on your mind. What else?"

"I think we should have a plan for if we come across someone—both for wild and civil Pokémon. You're super recognizable with your missing arm, so it's not like we ever have a hope of pretending to be a different Riolu and Charmeleon."

"We'll have to pursue a peaceful resolution with wild Pokémon at all costs, realistically. I can't imagine any of them will be with the White Spine, either."

"Sure, but we'll still do our best to avoid them. What about civils, though?"

Dante considered the quandary. If a White Spine spy successfully reported back with their whereabouts, the full force of the organization would bear down upon them—and with Marshadow's transport abilities, it would happen with startling efficiency. If the White Spine chose to keep working with Giratina's marks, simply being within a certain unknown radius of one of the agents could result in the sudden appearance of an army. In any case, the conclusion to make was obvious: they had to avoid the information getting out at any cost.

But what did that actually mean? If they were face to face with an agent, was murder the only solution? Even worse, could they tell whether any given Pokémon was an agent?

"I think you've reached the same conclusion I have," Luca said. "What do you think?"

"Honestly, I'm thinking I don't want to travel across the continent murdering everyone I come across."

"Yeah. We'll have to do it as a case-by-case basis, weighing the likelihood of them being safe to let go... but in the worst case of worst cases, I think there's only one solution."

"And you're OK with that?"

"It doesn't matter if I'm OK with it. I have to be if I want to live. You?"

Dante couldn't help but snort at the question. "Well, I'm sure my family would be thrilled to learn that I'm finally planning on hardening my heart and killing. No, I was raised to be prepared for it. You don't need to worry about me."

"I guess it's set in stone, then," Luca said, though she didn't sound remotely happy about it. "Let's just do our best to stay hidden."

Dante stayed quiet. That was likely all Luca wanted to touch on before the journey, but even if it wasn't, it could wait until later. After something so dire had been decided, silent reflection felt respectful.

The two of them kept walking in silence. It ended up being not that long at all before they arrived at the border of the forest, and what a border it was; rather than a gradual change, it was like there was a single, dramatic line separating Celebi's forest and the adjacent area. This effect was especially obvious because the adjacent area was an arid desert.

"...I was not expecting a desert," Luca said. "You think we'll be able to get enough water in it?"

"I doubt it, and we should avoid it regardless. Too open."

"Oh, true. Plus, I don't see any tracks in the sand anywhere near. It doesn't look like Isle came this way."

"Well, let's follow the border around, I guess."

"OK." After a pause, Luca continued: "So wait, if we were just sent back in time, do we exist in two places at once? Like, is there a second Luca that's currently flying towards the Coalition?"

"There must be."

"And what if we were to go talk to her? Wait for her at the edge of Celebi's forest?"

"We already know that we don't, right? We didn't meet our future selves."

"If that's how it works. Maybe if we went to see ourselves, we'd be talking to different versions of us. Interacting timelines, you know."

"Tell you what," Dante said. "If we survive this, the next mission is to find out how that works."

Luca made a noise of frustration. "Of course as soon as I leave, I think of a question for Celebi."

"I doubt she would have answered it with that cagey answer about timelines."

"Ugh, true."

The conversation fell quiet, and Dante paid more attention to his surroundings. The desert on their right was seemingly empty, but Dante knew that it was almost certainly infested with a disproportionate amount of hidden wild Pokémon. In fact, there was probably at least one tracking their progress along the border.

The forest to their left had quickly transitioned from the dense humidity of Celebi's domain to a collection of trees thin enough to be scarcely considered a forest. As a result, rather than staying just at the edge of cover, they were gradually walking out into the open. This didn't bother Dante—at least, not until they caught sight of a town or trail—and Luca seemed content to keep going, so there was nothing to worry about.

At least, there wasn't initially. It was only about a half an hour into the new area that Luca spoke: "I hate to say it, but I'm getting really hungry."

"Yeah, we haven't eaten since you arrived two days ago. I'm surprised you weren't hungry earlier."

"So what do these dungeon markers look like?"

"They're just bright-colored cloth flags. They'll be white, green, yellow, red, or purple."

"The colors mean anything?"

"They're the dungeon's difficulty. White is entirely trivial, while purple flags are typically reserved for dungeons that no one has ever came out of."

"OK, so what's the most you think we can handle?"

"Without any berries, any dungeon could be fatal. We should definitely limit ourselves to white or green, even at the cost of not eating for a day."

Luca gave a grunt of acknowledgement, though Dante could tell that she wasn't currently thrilled with the idea of strategic fasting. In any case, it shouldn't matter; white and green dungeons were common enough in the types of terrain they would want to be traveling through for the majority of their journey that going for long without food was unlikely. Of course, that didn't do anything to quell the hunger pangs.

Thankfully, it was about halfway through the day when Dante caught sight of a tiny white blur in the distance. It was scarcely visible with how far from their path it was, but there wasn't much else it could be.

"Hey, I think I see a dungeon," Dante reported with a point. "This way."

Luca followed his gesture, squinting at the distance. "...Where?"

"You probably can't see it. As a future flying-type, my eyesight is already really good."

"Hm. Well, lead the way."

A handful of minutes later, they arrived at the white thing that Dante had spotted. It was indeed a dungeon marker attached to a stake to act as a small flag in the center of a small clearing.

"So where exactly is the dungeon?"

"It's just next to the stick, opposite the side the flag is mounted to."

Luca wasted no more time in approaching the flag and spreading it across her paws to inspect it. "'132-15-2'?" she read from the cloth.

"Mhm. This is the 15th dungeon in the 132nd zone, and it only has two floors."

"Only two? Where were these short dungeons in the mountains?"

Dante shrugged. "Dungeons in extreme terrain tend to be extreme as well. Ready to brave it?"

Luca dropped the flag and offered a paw. "When you are."

Hand in hand, Dante and Luca stepped forward and into the dungeon.

Luca kept her eyes open, allowing the colors to melt and swim around her and refusing to allow them to overwhelm. A moment later they stabilized, and she was in the dungeon. Luca hurried to survey her surroundings.

As expected, the dungeon had them surrounded by plant-matter walls at midday. Only a single hallway awaited them across the empty room.

"Am I leading, or are you?" Dante asked.

"What do you mean? You always lead."

"If we need to fight quickly, I'm worried about panicking and trying to use my missing arm. I still regularly try to grab things with it before I remember."

Luca felt an acute pang of guilt. Somehow, with everything that had happened, she had failed to properly appreciate just how impactful his injury was. In addition to being a glaring weakness in a fight, it was going to affect every moment of his life going forward. Luca eyed the stump, briefly trying to imagine what living without her arm would be like.

"Hey, uh..." Luca began, unsure whether she should say anything. "Look, I'm sorry about your arm. And letting you get taken."

"Don't worry about it. No one can blame you for what's been happening here. OK?"

"OK," Luca lied; at the moment, she felt certain she was going to continue feeling bad about it—especially since it hadn't even occurred to her until now. "I'll lead, then."

Despite the number of dungeons Luca had been in, it felt like a foreign experience with her in the lead. As she snuck through the hall, she couldn't help but regularly turn back just to double check that Dante was still behind her. Every time she did, he would break his concentration on staying alert to give her a brief nod of what felt like encouragement.

After a long straight hallway, there was a single sharp turn to the right. Luca leaned to peek an eye around it and check what lay ahead.

Only a few feet forward, the hallway opened into what seemed to be a wide room. Luca couldn't see every inch of it, but from what she could see, it was empty save for a single Pokémon. A Slakoth was sprawled out on its back, seemingly enjoying the warm sun above.

A single Slakoth was essentially a non-threat, but Luca motioned for Dante to wait behind the corner. Creeping forward quietly, Luca checked the rest of the room.

It was certainly a good thing that she did, because in the close right corner, a second Slakoth was dozing in the soft grass. Just in case of an emergency, Luca also noted the location of the next hallways; only the right wall and the far wall had openings.

Creeping back to Dante, Luca reported her findings under her breath: "Two Slakoth. I don't see anything else."

"Perfect force palm fodder," Dante whispered back. "I'll back you up."

Luca slunk into the room. As she crested the entrance, she gave a quick point to the right to notify Dante of the second Slakoth's location. Then, she proceeded to approach the awake one in the center of the room.

Luca managed to get close without being discovered, so she simply placed her paw into the Slakoth's soft belly. At the same instant, she concentrated the heat of her Aura into her palm and released it into the only available external outlet. With a satisfying thud of force dissipating into flesh, the first Slakoth was knocked out.

Unfortunately, it seemed it wasn't quite quiet enough; when Luca turned to check, the other Slakoth was already awake. With a massive yawn, it began crawling its way towards her.

Luca felt a sudden fatigue, and she realized what had happened; the Slakoth hadn't just yawned, it had used yawn—meaning she was going to fall asleep within the next few seconds. She had to hurry, but as slow as it was, Luca had no trouble finding an opening to place her paw on its forehead and knocking it out with a force palm.

She felt sleep encroaching, but she had a moment to speak first: "Be right b—"

The next thing she knew, Luca was prone on the ground and waking up. Looking around, she could see that Dante was standing above her with a bemused expression.

"Did I fall asleep mid-sentence?" Luca asked, shaking the sleep out as she pushed herself to her feet.

"You did. You know, most Pokémon get in a position that means they won't hurt themselves when they're put to sleep. Instead, you just stood there and—I assume—tried to say that you'd 'be right back'."

"Feh," Luca said, feeling a little embarrassed. "I guess I don't get any of those helpful instincts."

"You'll know what to do next time," Dante said, though his smirk didn't disappear. "These are good for eating," he continued, placing a foot on the neck of the closest Slakoth. "And with only two floors, we won't find much better."

"Wanna bring both?"

Dante looked up as he put his weight down. "Why?"

"We can keep it for tomorrow. Maybe avoid going into a dungeon at all, and if we're going through wild territory, we could use it as a peace offering, maybe."

"Oh, good idea. Will you carry it once we're out of the dungeon, though? A full day of traveling while carrying a Pokémon is definitely too much for me."

"Of course."

Dante finally removed his foot from the Slakoth. "OK. Just need to do the other."

While Dante did his business, Luca peered down the two hallways she had to choose from. Down the right one, there wasn't actually much hallway to speak of: almost immediately, it opened into a seemingly empty room. However, Luca saw something that excited her: a body of water. She had seen them in the berry dungeon, but this one held so much more weight when they were doing her best to survive in the wild.

Luca resisted the urge to just go take a drink and checked the other hallway, but a bend meant that she was unable to learn anything. Regardless, Dante was about done, and Luca watched as he slung both corpses over his good shoulder and held them secure.

"Water this way," Luca reported, gesturing to the right hallway. "Ready?"

"Mhm."

Luca led the way into the next room. After a quick check, it appeared empty—with a single important exception. The dungeon water's surface was entirely opaque, meaning there could be any manner of water Pokémon within. When Lann had been with them it was, as all things in dungeons, trivial—but now that they were alone, it was a significant threat. Luca looked back at Dante for guidance.

"Should probably be fine," Dante said, picking up on why she was hesitant. "Just dunk your head and check underwater. I'll be ready to help if something happens."

"Ugh, OK." Luca sincerely didn't want to, but she certainly wasn't going to ask Dante to do it.

Sneaking up to water's edge, Luca crouched down and stared into the water. Like a mirror, it reflected perfectly—and perhaps just to stall, Luca inspected her own face.

Having seen an image of a Riolu back at the Coalition, the fact that she hadn't ever really taken time to look at herself hadn't bothered Luca in the least. And yet, seeing herself now, Luca was dumbfounded. Whatever part of the brain is meant to recognize one's reflection as the self didn't seem to activate, and even as she deliberately moved parts of her face and watched them move in the reflection, there was no way to fully recognize what she was seeing as herself. It was strange—after living in it for so long she felt comfortable enough in this body to never think about it, but now, the strange foreign feeling was beginning to arise once again. She was suddenly aware of the weight of the teardrop shapes hanging from her head, her strange backward knees, her barely-articulate paws, and her tail.

"...Is this the first time you're seeing your reflection?" Dante asked gently.

"Yeah."

Dante's reflection appeared alongside her as he joined her by the edge. "Do you want to talk it over?"

"I don't know, I mean, it's weird. It's like what I'm seeing isn't myself, but when I try to imagine what I think I should be seeing, there's nothing there either. And ugh, do I really always look so... scruffy and tired?"

"You've been living rough for months at this point," Dante reflection said. "And on the topic of instincts, you don't seem to have the self-cleaning impulse."

"Humans like to keep themselves clean. Maybe I just don't see this as my body quite yet."

"In any case, you have more important things than vanity to worry about. If anything, it might work in our favor."

"I've got the instilling pity thing down," Luca said, watching the Riolu before her put on a pathetic smile. "But I guess I should stop stalling."

Dunking her head below the waterline, Luca opened her eyes and searched. There were no visible Pokémon, and the strange, angular geometry of the riverbed didn't allow any hiding places, so Luca pulled her head back from the water.

"Clear," she reported, the fur of her head now sopping wet.

Dante didn't hesitate to bend low and drink from the water ravenously, and Luca followed suit; when access to water was bound to be unreliable, there was no such thing as overindulging.

It was a few minutes before both of them were content. Dante hefted the pair of Slakoth onto his shoulder, and just like that, they were back to business.

Or rather, they should have been back to business. As Luca turned her attention to the surrounding hallways, a cold chill of fear ran up her spine; in the hallway, watching them with cold and intelligent eyes, was a Grovyle. It was mid-stride, as if Luca had caught it attempting to sneak up and ambush them. There was a flash of surprise and indecision in the grass-type's eyes as it weighed its options, but with a brief flick to Dante, it made its decision. With only the subtle sound of rushing grass, it retreated into the hallway and was gone.

"...That's not good," Dante admitted, having also noticed the Grovyle. "It might have retreated because I'm a fire-type, but we can expect an ambush."

"Let's follow it. I'll watch the front, and you watch the back."

"Yep. Stay close."

The pair of them continued forward, moving much more slowly and deliberately. The hallway was definitely in their favor compared to an open forest, as realistically, there was no sneaking up on them as long as they were careful. Still, if it appeared when they were busy with other ferals, it could be deadly.

To Luca's relief, the stairs were visible ahead after only a single turn. "Stairs ahead," she reported. "Keep your eyes back."

When they crested the room, Luca checked her corners to find that it was once again empty. "It's clear. Let's go, quick."

Dante didn't need to be told twice; as one, they rushed to climb the stairs. As they approached the top, Luca was able to see beyond it—and standing just behind it was the Grovyle. It regarded them with frustration and anger; it had been waiting patiently for an opportunity, but it never came. Now, with them about to leave, it had nothing to lose and leapt towards them with shocking speed. Not speedy enough, however: an instant later their feet touched the top step, and the swirling colors whisked them away just in time.

Luca's adrenaline didn't let up; mixed into the blur of colors, she could see the distinctive brown of a Slakoth as well as a grey-white, meaning they would be fighting immediately upon their arrival.

Sure enough, there were three ferals waiting for them. Fortunately, however, the grey-white color was not a Vigoroth as Luca had suspected or any other feral; between the three Slakoth, the next stairs were already there. With how non-threatening they were alone, Luca was able to quickly dispatch them by herself as Dante covered her in case of another yawn.

"I think two is probably plenty," Dante said once she was done, re-shouldering the Slakoth they had scored on the first floor. "Any more and it'll be hard for you to carry."

"Yeah. Let's get out of here."

Once again climbing the stairs and sitting through a whirl of colors, Luca was surprised to see that the dungeon walls still surrounded them, and it was still midday; for the first time, she was in what was known as an ending floor.

Rather than the web of rooms and hallways that normally defined dungeons, the ending floor was only a single large room, shaped somewhat like a mushroom; the entrance where Luca found herself standing next to Dante was in a narrow part of the room, while the stairs stood front and center in a much wider area ahead. Other than the structure difference and emptiness, it was a perfectly normal dungeon floor.

"It's kind of... eerie, isn't it?" Luca mused.

"Huh?" Dante asked, letting the Slakoth fall off of his shoulder. "Why?"

"I don't know. The dungeons feel wild and unnatural, to a certain extent. With how symmetrical this is, it feels very..." Luca paused, searching for the correct word. "Deliberate," she decided.

"From where I'm sitting, an extra-dimensional pocket without enemies and that doesn't cause us to starve is a blessing," Dante said, letting himself fall onto his back. "One that we're lucky to have. Honestly, it's only partway through the day, but sleeping here would be much safer than anywhere in the wild."

Luca reluctantly sat in the lush grass. "I guess slow and safe is better than fast and risky."

"Yeah. Let's eat, and then we can sleep."

As Dante got to work preparing one of the Slakoth, Luca waited patiently and tried to force down her hunger. If she wanted to live, she should be prepared to go longer without food. This journey would likely be both the most difficult and highest stakes period of her time in the Pokémon world, and if she wasn't prepared, she might end up breaking. In any case, for the first time in a long time, she had a clear goal and a clear path towards it—all she needed was the willpower to follow through.