'You've gotta be kidding…'

Rio was currently dangling off the side of a large, electric gem sticking out of the side of a wall. He repeatedly slapped his paw against it, his brow about as furrowed as possible. "Maybe… maybe if I just, uh…" he tried using both paws, then remembered he needed one arm to hang from the thing.

'How could you forget how to suck?!'

"I am not calling my power that. Zen calls it absorption, and that is what I will call it," Rio said firmly, climbing up onto the gem to straddle it. Looking down, there was a good few Rios between him and the floor. He wasn't entirely sure he'd be alright if he fell. "Hmm… this doesn't feel right either," he hummed, shuddering slightly from the shocks the gem sent through his body.

'Hey, I am the professional Lucario here, actually. Last time I checked, at least. I do know that between the both of us, I'm the smart one.'

"You're also a certified prick since you still haven't told me anything," Rio grumbled, hitting the gem with both paws. More tiny shocks coursed through his body, but it didn't feel like his power was working. "We literally walked through a tunnel, you said, 'Hey Rio, look! Climb up to that really big gem!' and I said "ok but why though?" and you said, 'oh come on! It'll be fun! And we can test out a fun little experiment!'"

'It would have been a fun little experiment, if you didn't break yourself. Again. The one thing you were good at since day one was sucking, and now you suck at sucking.'

Rio growled and rolled his eyes."Stop saying suck, and I didn't suck when I got here! How would you have known, anyway?"

'Uh, I was always here. What, did you think you just woke up one day and randomly created me from the inner depths of your psyche?'

"Yes." Rio let out a sigh and leaned his back against the wall. "Can I climb back down now?"

'Not until we figure out how to un-break you. We managed to brute force the aura and aura sense, and even if sucking is a bit out of my expertise, I'm sure I can manage.'

Rio held up his paws. "You're trying to edge me into getting pissed, and I refuse to play into it."

'Pfft.'

"What are you even on about now?" Rio huffed, slamming a paw on the gem. He let out a yip as a stronger shock zapped him in the butt. "That's it, I'm getting off."

'Pfft!'

"I hate you."

'You love me.'

"I hate you."

'Hate and love are two sides of the same coin, all you gotta do is flip me over.'

"Remember when I said I'd punch you in the face, and you said I could just punch myself in the face?" Rio asked, deadpanned. He held his arms out to his sides, allowing his body to slowly fall to a side.

'What are you doing?'

"I am dropping us on the head."

'Rio you better not.'

"You brought this upon us yourself, I'm just letting gravity do its thing." Rio's body swung under the gem. The only thing keeping him from plummeting tens of feet to the ground was his legs wrapped tightly around the gem above him.

'O-Ok! I take it back!'

"I dunno bro, you don't sound all that sorry. This also just feels like the fastest way down, so I might just do it anyway," Rio said flatly, shrugging. "Letting go in five…"

'Rio for the love of god…'

"Four…"

'You're bluffing! You wouldn't split your skull open over something like this!'

"Three…"

The voice gulped. 'H-H-Hey now, come on! I already said I'm sorry!'

Rio let his legs grip slip for a second. "Two…"

'O-OK! I promise to start telling you everything I know about this place! Just get down like a normal person!'

"That's what I wanted to hear," Rio snickered. He leaned up to grab onto the gem, proud of his little victory. However, all that proudness left his body the instant the gem creaked. Rio went deathly still and quiet, gulping nervously.

'This is what I love to call, "Immediate Karma."'

"If this hurts me, it hurts you too, remember?" Rio said, his fur standing on end as the gem creaked and cracked.

'Oh that? I was just trying to see if you'd punch yourself in the face. I can't feel anything that happens to this body anymore.'

"Do you get a kick outta messing with me?" Rio snarled, making the mistake of hitting the gem in frustration. The crack in the gem almost instantly reached the other end of the gem, and a second later, it snapped right in half.

Rio plummeted to the ground, clutching the gem to his chest. "THIS IS YOUR FAAA-" Rio's back hit the ground, forcing a wheeze out of him. He let go of the gem and stayed on the ground, slowly, painfully, exhaling. "Owwwww…"

'Did you forget how not-high we were?' the voice snickered.

"Screw… you…" Rio groaned. A few minutes passed before he tried to get back up again. With both paws under the gem, Rio tried to push it off of him. Instead, a blue glow encompassed his body, and the gem dissolved into it as yellow sparkles.

'Oh, hey, we fixed it!'

"Yaaaaay…" Rio deadpanned. A sudden shocking sensation coursed through his body, surprising him to his feet. "Wh-What was that?!" he yelped. The blue of his aura slowly took on a yellow color, his fur sharped and spiked, and he suddenly felt uncomfortably jittery. The band on his arm, instead of red, blue, and green flames, took on the pattern of a crashing lightning bolt.

'Electricity, obviously. You absorbed the gem, just like I thought you would! That means I was right; these gems are made of aura!'

"Really?" Rio blinked, looking at his paws; tiny sparks crackled off as he flexed them. "So that means… uh…" Rio scratched his head, jumping as he shocked himself. "What does that mean?"

'That means we have the perfect little playground to mess around with your powers! We can study what happens when your body comes in contact with all the different types! How many combinations can you take? What does each do to your body? What's your limit? What can you do with the different auras?' A cackle echoed in Rio's head. 'The possibilities are ENDLESS!'

Rio shook his head, sending small sparks in various directions. "Whoa there, buddy. One thing at a time. First, we find the others. Then, if I'm feeling up to it, we can mess around with these aura gems."

'Don't act like you don't wanna see what you're capable of, Mr. "Sense of Right."'

If Rio didn't verbally admit that the voice was right, then it wasn't. "Sense of Right has a nice, bland ring to it. Come up with something better and I might make a detour to try another type out."

'Don't you threaten me with a chance for experimentation.'

Rio shrugged. "Suit yourself."

The room they were in was far taller than it was wide, and it was about as wide as twenty or so Rios, an obviously well-known and widely-used unit of measurement. It was cylindrical in shape, and the walls were full of electric gems. Way up high, there were a couple of tunnels, and down low, there were just as few. The tunnels themselves were much wider than the ones Rio had seen before.

Fortunately, there weren't any creatures hidden in spores or darkness, but something told Rio not to try and stay to find out what could be here instead. He turned to the tunnel he was mostly sure he didn't come out of already.

The jitters in Rio's body started to build up, causing his skin to crawl. Rio shot forward so fast, he was already at the tunnels entrance before he realized his foot left the ground. He stumbled as he stopped and looked back. A faint trail of static stretched from the center of the room, to where he stood.

"..." Rio blinked again, about to take forward again, just to find himself already back at the spot he fell earlier, trying to regain his balance before he fell flat on his face.

'...Fascinating.'

"Fascinating?" Rio scoffed, a grin slowly stretching along his snout. "That was AWESOME! I'm so fast now, this didn't happen the last time I took electricity!" He zipped across the room, leaving trails of sparks behind him, stopping suddenly before shooting off in another direction, all the while laughing excitedly. "I-I feel so… so..!" Rio zipped back to the tunnel he was about to go into earlier. "I-I don't even know!"

'One would expect that you'd attain super speed upon absorbing a gem of pure electric aura, but to this extent? I can't even begin to imagine how much the other types will affect our body!'

"Right?" Rio laughed, eyeing down the tunnel before him. His aura feelers shot right up, as a vibrant, yellow aura crackled off his body. Turns out, his aura sense got an upgrade as well; Rio managed to feel the layout of the tunnel in seconds. It twisted and turned, led into other tunnels, and far, far into it, led into a large room. "This is incredible!" he laughed again.

'Let's see how long it takes for you to reach the end, huh?'

"You don't even gotta ask!" Rio smirked confidently. He rolled his shoulders, drawing out more of his electrified aura. In an instant-

-Rio crashed into something big and fuzzy, bouncing right off and skidding several feet back.

"Owwwww… Again," Rio groaned, holding his head. "What did I-!"

Standing before Rio, no, over him, was a giant yellow and blue face, almost as big as he was. Two large and four small, sapphire eyes stared into Rio's own. Two yellow, fuzzy appendages hung from that face, just over Rio, and four powerful legs held this creature over him.

"I-I-I…" Rio choked on his own voice as fear shot through his system faster than the lightning did. He couldn't find the will in him to move, or to scream, or to fight. Whatever this thing was… this giant… he couldn't fight it. He couldn't beat it. This was going to be it, this was going to be the end. Screw the light at the end of the tunnel, he still didn't make it out of the first one!

As a moment or two passed, and neither Rio nor the creature did anything, the creature itself just… turned away. Uninterested.

Rio, still in shock, let his body fall back onto the ground. He was safe, believe it or not. He cursed his mind for overthinking that entire thing, but that probably couldn't have been helped. Faster everything reasonably meant he was quicker to jump to conclusions.

'That… That thing is huge…'

"Y-You're telling me," Rio panted. His body felt abnormally drained, and a growl echoed from his stomach. "Now? Really?"

"You know, I have this gut feeling-'

"Let me cut you off right there," Rio raised a digit in opposition, then sat himself up. "You cut that pun short or I am starving us both."

'Fine, but seriously, with how fast you were moving, I'm not surprised how soon you burnt out. Maybe try to slow down a bit next time. Might also help with not making an enemy of the, uh… locals.'

Speaking of, that creature turned back around, staring into Rio's face again. Rio flinched, trying to back away, but stumbled. The creature crept closer without taking its eyes off of Rio, clearly a champion at eye contact. Once Rio stopped moving, the creature did as well. Without moving its eyes still, it said. "...Gal, galvan."

Rio blinked, and somehow felt the voice in his head blink as well. "P-Pardon?"

"Gal galvan."

'That's a FERAL?!'

"THAT'S a feral?!"

'How did you not sense something like THIS?!'

"I-I have no idea!"

The creature tilted its massive head. "Galva?"

'I-I've never seen a feral of this SIZE! I am in awe!'

"Y-You and me both," Rio gulped. "Any idea what it's saying? Or what it is?"

"Gal. Gal. Van," the creature turned, staring at Rio for a moment longer, then continued down the tunnel.

'I think… I think that's a giant Galvantula. And it wants you to follow it.'

"Galvantula?" Rio muttered, picking himself up. "Galvantula…"

'You've been skimping out on your studying…'

"I haven't had the time," Rio huffed.

'Zen will have your head for this.'

"I'm just lucky you can't tell him…" Rio tittered, then sighed. Galvantula turned again, crackling angrily. "O-Ok, I'm coming!" Rio shuddered, following behind the giant bug. At least Galvantula was most likely friendly… Or so Rio hoped.

It was a long, awkward walk through the tunnel. Galvantula clearly wasn't much of a talker, and Rio thought it was respectful to keep quiet as to not show the giant spider, who was more than twice his size, up. The voice in his head, however, didn't. Because why wouldn't he want to talk Rio's ears off now?

'Are you scared?'

'Why would I not be?' Rio thought-huffed. 'This is a literal giant feral Pokemon. Emphasis on GIANT.'

'Well it could be worse…'

'Don't you come in here with that jynx shit! Do you want to give me a heart attack?!'

'Oh so when you do it it's fine, but the first time I do-'

Rio aggressively raised a digit, accidentally catching Galvantula's attention. How it managed to see or feel Rio move behind it's own giant… posterior, was beyond Rio. He let out a nervous chuckle, pretending he was actually stretching. Galvantula squinted all its eyes at Rio then turned back down the tunnel. 'If you end up making me get us attacked by this Galvantula, I will haunt you in the afterlife.'

'I am literally just a voice in your head, technically, how would you getting axed off by a Galvantula be my fault?'

'Because I said so,' Rio crossed his arms, slowly, as to not risk pissing off Galvantula. 'Who knows, maybe we can actually take it? Maybe? At least there's only this one.'

'NOW look who's jynxing us!'

'Don't be such a wuss, there can't possibly be more giant Galvantulas,' Rio thought, semi-confidently. A vile chill crawled up his back as his aura feelers raised, picking up on… several large objects. '...We are going to die.'

A short while after that, Galvantula led Rio into a giant, supremely vast room, beautiful adorned with electric gems, thick webs, and an uncomfortable amount ofJoltiks the size of Eevees, and Galvantulas, most of which were bigger than the one Rio was following. Speaking of Rio, the Outlander felt every single organ inside him get filled up with cement and drop to the floor. Metaphorically… probably.

"Hrrgg…" Rio groaned, clutching his stomach. He could feel all of the creatures in this room moving. His skin didn't just crawl, it felt like it was trying to tear itself away from Rio. He swatted at his body several times, all the while his stomach threatened to treat him to some unwanted and unsightly weight loss. Adding even more insult to injury, the air was so thick with aura that a painful yellow haze fell over Rio's vision, bringing a formidable headache along for the ride. "Wh-What… urk… what's happen...ning..?"

'N-Now… uhhg... would be a good time to turn your aura sense down, or off. Please…' The voice wasn't doing much better, from the sound of it. 'Try to focus on just yourself, quickly..! Preferably before you lose lunch I think you ate at breakfast.'

Focus on himself, Rio could do that. Focus on the one, the Lucario, and nothing else. Just him. Don't think about the possible hundreds of thousands of spider-like creatures crawling all around him. Definitely don't focus on those large mandibles that could totally split an ordinary jackal-dog-thing in half. And those legs? Forget about them, especially the idea of how they could easily restrict the movement of prey!

"I-It isn't… hurrrhg… it…" Rio fell to his knees covered his mouth, trying to keep the gagging to just gagging. "H-Help please…"

A green and white striped seed rolled into Rio's vision. "Gal," he heard, looking up to see Galvantula… a bit further away from him than before. Like, a respectful distance. It pointed at the seed, then at its mouth, to which, Rio gagged. "Van, gal vantu van!" the giant feral stomped a foot.

'Eat the seed, quickly..!'

Rio did exactly as he was told, dropping his head to pick up the seed with his teeth and biting into it. It was unbelievably bitter, but Rio couldn't spit it out if he tried, out of respect and fear of Galvantula. Ok, it was entirely fear. He took a few more bites, the bitterness bringing him to tears, and swallowed.

An unexpected warmth rushed through Rio's body, soon followed and replaced by a fizzing sensation that stretched from the tip of his ears to the bottom of his paws. It was… strangely pleasant. After a moment or two passed, Rio's stomach felt back to normal!

Rio stood up, resting a paw on his gut. He shut his eyes, and his aura feelers gradually fell to the back of his head. "That seed thing really did the trick! Th-Thank you!" he said, opening his eyes and smiling. "What, uh, was that?"

"Van galvan." Another green seed was flicked over to Rio. For some reason, he was expecting something else. Like words that he understood.

"Right, yeah, thanks…" Rio deadpanned. "Was there anything here you actually wanted to show me other than-" he gulped, looking over the room again and shuddering slightly. "-y-your family?"

Galvantula turned and started walking elsewhere, motioning for Rio to follow with one of its mandibles. The Lucario shuddered and obliged, again. Not like he had much of a choice. Again.

With his body no longer going haywire, Rio more properly took this place in. Walking further away from the tunnel, Rio saw that he was standing on a sort of cliff thing, if you could even call it a cliff when it's in the mountain. There was so, so much more that he couldn't even properly see.

Below the drop, huge gems stuck out of the wall for as far as Rio can see, and probably further, with pockets of webs dangling off of or gathering at the base of most gems. Clusters of Joltiks skittered along the walls and gems with Galvantulas looking over them. Large strands of woven webs acted like bridges over the seemingly bottomless drop off before Rio, all of them used by the Bug Type residents of this place.

"Whoa…" Rio chuckled, rubbing his eyes. If it weren't for what happened moments prior, he would have called this place beautiful. "Are we still in the mountain? How is all of this fitting under it? Hell, how is it fitting under Sunset?"

'Oh yeah, I keep forgetting to explain this to you. Even if you should've already learned this,' the voice said, then cleared his throat. 'This, is a Mystery Dungeon. And not just any ol' dungeon from the look and feel of it. It's something far more impressive. Supposedly. We haven't seen all there is yet.'

Galvantula led Rio to one of the web bridges heading downwards. It wasn't as sticky as Rio thought, but he still had to put in some effort to walk on it. "A Mystery Dungeon?" he asked, looking over the side of the web. It was definitely a long way down.

'They're… hmmm. It's hard to call them anything else other than magical. Or the bane of physicists who deny magic as a legitimate scientific field,' the voice laughed and sighed. 'Ordinarily, everytime you enter one, its layout and size changes. But there have been a few dungeons where everything stays mostly the same with every subsequent visit.'

Rio blinked, rubbing his jaw. "...What?"

'The concept is a bit difficult to understand on the first explanation, I know but-'

Rio shook his head. "No no, I mean the physicist part. You know a physicist?"

'Why is that the part you're hung up on?'

"Because you're a dumbass," Rio deadpanned. Galvantula looked back, a mix of confusion and worry on its insectoid face. "Oh, that wasn't to you, sorry."

'I'm hurt, Rio. Really. Sniff.'

"Did you just say 'sniff?'"

'...No I didn't.'

Rio stuck his digit to his forehead. "Bitch, we both know you can't lie to me."

'I-I didn't say sniff! I sniffled!'

"And I must look like a dumb brick to you."

'You said it, not me.'

"I will throw myself off this web right now if you really wanna start this!"

"Galvan!" Galvantula crackled with electricity, stomping on the web strand angrily, causing it to shake a bit. Rio shut his mouth and held up his paws defensively. With an aggravated huff, Galvantula pointed at Rio with one of its powerful legs, then pointed to a tunnel at the end of the web. "Tula."

"Uh…" Rio blinked. "I guess we go there?" Galvantula nodded, crawling over the side of the web to let Rio pass.

'Wonder why.'

"Maybe you should ask them," Rio smirked, putting his paws on his hips. "But I also don't want to get on its nerves again Imma just go." He started making his way down the rest of the bridge, turning to wave to Galvantula. "Thanks, uh, Galvantula."

Galvantula nodded its head to the tunnel, then turned and left. Truly a poetic master.

'Such a remarkable speaker.'

"You could learn a thing or two from it." Rio chuckled, turning on his heel as best he could without falling over. He stumbled and threw his arms out for balance.

'And you could benefit learning how to walk.'

"Touche."

A good few more near-stumbles later, and Rio reached the tunnel he was directed to enter. Unlike the other tunnels Rio's used, this one spiraled downwards. Rio shut his eyes, gaining his blue aura glow, and clutched his head in agony.

"D-Damn, I forgot to turn it down…" Rio panted. "Because I still don't know how…"

'Just think less.'

"Your sarcasm annoys me."

'I'm not being sarcastic, just trust me. Think small.'

Rio rolled his eyes and "thought small." Instead of feeling the countless auras of the Galvantulas, he instead felt… just himself, and the one or two Galvantula crawling nearby. He growled to himself, hearing the voice loudly clear the throat it didn't have.

'I'm not hearing a "thank you."'

"And you won't, but this doesn't help me with the tunnel anyway," Rio huffed, already walking down it. "How did I see the other one so clearly?"

'Hmmm… that was when you were electrified, right? Try absorbing another gem.'

Rio nodded, resting his paw on a rather large electric gem. He took a deep breath, and the gem faded into his body. A powerful surge of electricity shot through him, and he felt those jitters return to him, albeit a bit more tolerable than the first time.

"Alright, lets see here…" He again shut his eyes, feeling only the layout of the tunnel before him and the room behind him, and not the ferals that were inside. On the plus side, the tunnel didn't go all that far down, so… yay? There was even a room connected to it, a rather large one. Rio was starting to sense a pattern here...

'What a strange drawback…'

"I know right?" Rio tittered, rolling his shoulders. Sparks danced off his body as he got ready to move. "We can think about that later, lets go ahead and see what that Galvantula wanted to show us."

'And hope it isn't some-

Rio stopped just short of shooting off the side of a cliff, leaning back as far as he could to retain his balance.

-thing dangerous…' the voice paused, then sighed. 'Of course…'

The room they came up in had gems jutting from the walls, much larger than normal. And no matter how far he sensed, Rio couldn't see the bottom. At some point, his sense just… cut off. Freaky. There were, also, tunnels scattered scarcely among the gems.

"Alright, so uh… which one do we go for?" Rio asked.

'I'll let you figure this out, it'll be another good test of your aura sense. Mystery dungeons are notorious for having dead ends, and we won't know what could be in any of these tunnels until you sense them. Choose wisely.'

"Gotcha." Rio shut his eyes, took a deep breath, exhaled, and his electric aura crackled brightly around him.

The chamber he was standing in, went down seemingly forever. It felt like his sense was just cut off at a certain point. He held out a paw towards one of the closer tunnels, feeling it twist and turn, but stop abruptly. Another tunnel was more straightforward, leading to another large room. A few of the other tunnels barely went anywhere, but there was one that felt… off.

Rio carefully climbed down to one of the gems below him, trying to sense that tunnel better. It was… broken? Unlike the other tunnels that were, let's say smooth, this one felt like someone or something had taken large chunks out of the walls. A fight, might?

'What on earth..?'

"Guess we figured out what Galvantula wanted us to check out," Rio said, his yellow aura fading back into blue. He shut his eyes and took another deep breath, no longer sensing the layout of the tunnel, but the auras within. Most of them were incredibly faint and fading, but there were a few ones like Galvantula, and this… huge yellow spot at the end of the broken tunnel. He couldn't tell what it was, but some part of him didn't want to find out. It felt… powerful. Dangerous, even.

'Whatever the hell that is, I'm guessing Galvantula wants us to get rid of it. Looks like you got your first hero job, Rio! I'm so proud!'

Rio gulped, climbing down the gems towards the broken tunnel. "You aren't at all nervous to find out what drove something the size of Galvantula to throw help at it?"

'Oh totally, but we also have a you with us. Just suck the aura outta whatever it is and be on your way. No aura, no threat!'

"Stop calling it that," Rio growled. A few minutes later, he finally reached the tunnel. Chunks of stone were broken out of the walls and floor, and small bits of rubble crumbled off the ceiling. It looked like a battlefield, but Rio couldn't tell what was fighting.

'I hope you didn't forget how to fight, it looks like you'll have to tussle a bit.'

"You just said I could just su- absorb their aura and be done with this," Rio barked, gulping. "A-And maybe I won't have to, there's other Galvantulas around it, I think." He hoped they were alright, haha, heh…

An ominous, dangerous air flowed through the air as Rio went deeper and deeper into the ruined tunnel. The few gems inside it were shattered entirely or broken, giving of sparks of electric aura. Every step either shifted stone under Rio's paws, or it sounded like he was walking on glass. Electrified, harmless glass.

Further inside, the tunnel got even more broken and beaten. It was there that he came across a knocked over Galvantula, completely still. Rio gasped, kneeling beside the giant creature. Even being on its back, the Galvantula towered over Rio. Yet, he wasn't as scared of it.

"I-Is it… A-Are we too late?" Rio muttered, resting a paw on top of the beast's chin. It suddenly flinched and jolted awake, letting out a pained "G-Galva..!" and flailing its legs in the air. Rio jumped back, clutching his chest and panting. "O-Oh, it's fine… Phew…"

'Are you?'

Rio shrugged, going back over to the toppled Galvantula. He rested a paw on its side. "Let's get you back on your feet big guy. Girl. Whatever you are."

"Gal..?"

"You're a gal?" Rio blinked. He felt the Galvantula glare at him. Several times, with all those eyes. So much silent judgement... "R-Right. Feral. Thats, uh, what you sound like. To me… hehe…"

'Great job.'

The Lucario growled, then crouched down and tried to slide his paws under Galvantula. The faint creaking of exoskeleton was not something Rio enjoyed, he found out. Of all the things he's experienced so far, this was definitely one of the worst. Like trying to slide under a giant, hairy potato covered in shells.

"Alright, ready?" Rio huffed, getting into a more comfortable, wide stance, and his aura flickered briefly.

"G-Gal, galvan."

Rio gave the giant feral a nod, and started to lift up. Nothing happened at first, other than Rio straining to move the Galvantula. Then, Rio's aura started flickering again, and the bug type's body moved up slightly. "C-Come… on..!" Rio growled, and more of his aura started to flare.

"V-Vantula!?" the Galvantula chittered, surprised. It threw its legs to the side with all the force it could muster, moving as if to try and latch onto something.

'You got it kid! Haha! Just a bit further!'

Rio felt like his arms were about to give out. He hadn't realized how puny they were until now, really. Sure would have been nice if literally anyone else was here to help him. Another strained-groan-filled moment and later, and Galvantula flumped onto its proper side, standing up on its legs. It looked blinked its many eyes, staring at Rio silently. Awkward didn't begin to cover it.

"There, uh… You alright?" Rio asked, panting slightly. He was then promptly tackled down by Galvantula. "H-H-Hey! What're yo-" he started to panic, only to realize the spider was rubbing its face against his and… purring? And its mandibles were… "Th-Th-That tic-kles! H-Hey, st-stop it!" Rio giggled, trying and failing to push the insect off him.

"Galvan galvan galvan tula!" it chittered, backing off finally. It was kinda hard to tell from its face, but Galvantula looked… happy? Happy enough that Rio found himself smiling at it.

"You're welcome, I'm glad you're alright," Rio chuckled, picking himself up. "I, uh, guess you should head back to your home now. I still gotta check out what did this in the first place."

Galvantula tilted its head, stepping closer to Rio. "Van? Vantula?"

"I still have no idea what you're saying…" Rio sighed. "But if you're wishing me luck-" he turned back down the tunnel, grimacing. "-I'm definitely gonna need it…" With another deep breath, Rio slapped his cheeks and started back down the tunnel.

...And was very quickly stopped by something bumping into his back. And that something was Galvantula. "Van tula gal tula."

'Before you ask, no, I still don't know how to translate. But if I were to guess, I'd say it doesn't want you to go. You went an' made a friend!'

Rio smiled again, resting his paws on the side of the Galvantula's cheeks. It chittered quietly, looking into Rio's eyes again. "You don't gotta worry about me, I'll… probably be fine," he tittered, but when he let go of Galvantula, it grabbed onto him with its mandibles.

"Van!" it huffed.

"I, again, have no idea what you want," Rio said, sighing. "But I really have to g-" He was suddenly tossed into the air, nearly bonked his head on the ceiling, then landed perfectly on the Galvantula's back. "...Oh."

'...Ok.'

This was… something. Strange, sort of comfy, definitely unexpected. Galvantula tilted its head back far enough to look Rio in the eye again, doing that thing that Rio thought made it look happy again. Rio chuckled nervously, saying, "What… do I… Am I supposed to like, say something? Yah?"

Gleeful chitters left the Galvantula. It then booked it down the hall faster than Rio was expecting it too. He nearly fell right off the bug type's back. "H-Hey! Slow down! I-I don't have anything to h-hold onto!" Rio yelped, desperately trying to hold onto something. He managed to lean forward and wrap his arms around the… well the base of Galvantula's head since it didn't have a neck.

Sooner than Rio was ready for, Galvantula made a very abrupt stop, sending the Lucario flying off its back. It chittered happily as Rio crashed into the ground.

'Something something, express trip.'

Rio propped himself up, coughing up some dust. "Too tired to make a proper joke?"

'No, more distracted. Take a look around.'

It wasn't like he had anything better to do, so Rio did. He pushed off the ground so he could sit, and was surprised to find, unsurprisingly, a literal battlefield. There were more unconscious Galvantulas being helped by injured Galvantulas. Webs rich with electricity were scattered everywhere, with a huge clump of it at the back of the chamber. Shattered stone decorated the chamber like strawberries on a shortcake.

Rio was suddenly hungry, but forgot about that when Galvantula came up behind him again, sheepishly pushing its face under his arm. "You're… scared, right? Whatever hurt you is here, so I don't blame you," he said softly, patting Galvantula on the head. "Stay here."

"G-Galvan…" the giant grabbed onto Rio with its mandibles and whined. Another noise Rio didn't expect from it.

'Awwww, it's worried for you!'

"I-I appreciate the worry, but I can't not check it out at least. Maybe I can help you guys?" Rio smiled. "But I can't help if you don't let me go."

"...Gal."

"Let me go, please."

"Gal."

"C'mon please?"

"Gaaaaaaaaal."

"I'll flip you back over."

"Gal tula van…"

"Is that a challenge?"

Galvantula growled and let go of Rio, then whined. It rubbed its head on Rio's cheek and backed away, whining still. Rio almost felt guilty, but, uh… duty calls? He still didn't even want to do this but he couldn't not. Who'd come all this way just to chicken out at the end?

Rio took a deep breath, then exhaled. His aura sense didn't come up with anything except that wall of yellow, which he realized was filled to the brim with electricity. It was hard to tell what it was from, since everything here was probably electrically charged, but Rio had a feeling that it was whatever he was looking for.

The first step felt like it took forever to take. As did the second. And the third. Even with his aura sense off, Rio could feel this… weight all around him. All the Galvantulas limping the opposite direction he was, the battle-ruined stone around him, everything pointed towards him getting the hell out of there while he still had the chance.

All the fur on Rio's body stood on end as he came to a crater, where all of the thick strands of webs led to. Several Galvantula added to it, attaching the ends to electric gems to send electricity surging through the web cluster. There was a faint… growling sound Rio heard, among the crackle of electricity and insect activity. And of course, that growl was coming from the inside cluster.

"It's in there, isn't it," Rio said, taking a deep breath again. All he sensed was, still, a deafening yellow.

'Do you think you're ready?'

"Absolutely not…" Rio deadpanned, walking towards the cluster. Fear rose even further in his chest with every step. What would he even find? Another giant feral? Whatever it was that chased him? Or maybe… it was Lee? Rio's heart pounded against his chest, a mix of fear and anxiety filling him. Or… no, was it anticipation? As he came up on the cluster, Rio realized that he was… grinning? "Wh-What is wrong with my face?"

'You're itching for a fight, aren't you?'

"H-How should I know?" Rio stammered. "I mean… kinda? I dunno!" He shook his head. His heart pounded even faster, and his aura started to glow around him. "What is wrong with me?"

'Nothing, actually. Every Lucario gets like this when it comes to fighting something stronger than them! I know I did when I was alive. Alive-alive, I mean.'

That didn't feel untrue, but… really? An entire species of Pokemon that gets excited when they get the chance to fight something that could kill them!? Rio had a question on his mind, but quickly forgot it when he noticed he had already entered the cluster.

The air was rich with electric aura, so much so that his fur stood up, and sparks danced along it. Every single strand of webbing was bright yellow, and aura visibly pulsed through it, heading deeper into the cluster. And the growling echoed through the web halls.

'They really wanted to keep whatever was in here shocked, huh?'

"Yeah…" Rio muttered, running his paw along the webs. It zapped him, but it was kind of... pleasant. It didn't hurt at all. "Strange."

'Yeah…'

Deep into the cluster, where even the floor was made of thick, electrified webs, an even smaller cluster hung suspended in the air. All of the webs, and the aura that surged through them, led to this smaller cluster. Even without his aura sense, Rio could see vibrant the electric aura around it.

And deep, steady growls left it as well.

"This it," Rio said, unknowing of his grin stretching further along his snout. "We gotta get rid of whatever's in this, right?"

'Most likely. Unless something was lost in translation. Or the lack thereof.'

"Don't go saying that now when I'm already here and… ready to fight? I think?" Rio was still lost reading his own body's mixed signals. He wanted to run, but he also wanted to fight whatever this was. He was scared, and excited. His palms were sweaty and his heart raced, but a vibrant blue aura burned anxiously around him and his paws ached to hit something really damn hard.

'Then try and get it open, and be on your toes.'

"...Aren't I always?" Rio hummed, then shook his head. Now was not the time to think about that. With steady footsteps, Rio approached the small cluster. He didn't get too close, since the electricity around it was so potent that it hurt just being near it.

'How the hell is whatever in this web thing still alive?'

Rio's aura flared higher, and his grin shone brightly. "I dunno, but we still have to get to it, so that's what I'm gonna do."

'Are… you're not planning on…'

"Do you have anything else that would work?" Rio said, flexing his paws.

'N-No, but… this is a lot of electricity, Rio. We don't know how much your body can take yet, I haven't even had the time to study your body fully the first time, or the second! This is far more than just the aura of one gem, you don't know what's going to happen!'

"Then wouldn't it be fun to find out? For science?"

'...God...dammit. I'm in. Let's fry some circuit boards boys! We doin' some damn SCIENCE!'

Rio laughed hardily, and his aura flared up as well. He pulled his arms back, and rolled his shoulders, and just as he threw them forward, shouted, "FOR SCIE-"

An indescribable well of electricity surged into Rio, almost all at once. He threw his head back in a painful scream, but was drowned out by the deafening crackles of electricity. Powerful bolts of lightning lashed out from the cluster, striking in every direction and severing strands of webs. It was like Rio's body was being torn and electrocuted from the inside out. His muscles felt like they were tearing over and over again. All his nerves were shot. His skin and fur burned. He didn't even have the luxury of passing out, his body simply wouldn't allow it.

Suddenly… it all stopped. The webs were now a dull, empty white. The cluster, no longer abundant with electric aura, started to unravel. Rio fell to his knees, still fully conscious, and the air around him crackled and popped loudly with static.

He lurched forward, covering his mouth as he gagged. His attempts to keep the contents of his stomach inside failed, he was far too weak to stop it. A bright, electric-yellow fluid evacuated his mouth, sizzling and crackling as it hit the webs on the floor. Liquified aura? If he didn't feel like a wreck, Rio would have been intrigued.

'...That answers the question of how much you can take, sorta," the voice in Rio's head tittered. "And also brings up… so many more…'

Rio spat out the leftover aura in his mouth and wiped it off. "I hate science…" he groaned. As he brought his paw away from his snout, Rio stared at it. Something was different. It was… skinnier? And the spike on the back of his paw was more stout than before. His eyes followed up his arm, the black of it was jagged, like electricity, and… his blue fur had turned yellow?!

"Whoa…"

"Wh-What the hell?" Rio yelped, looking at both of his arms, and the rest of his body. His… not-shorts were way slimmer, actually leading to his legs like he wasn't wearing pants. And his body was just, skinnier in general! He felt his ears and aura feelers, and luckily those were the same, but his tail was like a lightning bolt! His body fur was jagged and rough as well! "Is this supposed to happen? I do not think this is supposed to happen! And this yellow is hideous! I can't let anyone see me like this!"

'I am entirely lost here. And it's not that bad.'

"Says you, the one who doesn't have to go around looking like they fell in a can of rancid yellow paint!" Rio shouted. "How do I fix it? I have to be able to fix it!"

'Again, this is way out of my league here. This is an Outlander thing, and I ain't no Outlander.'

The cluster of webs shuffled, and a… voice came from it, instead of a growl. "Mnnnn, quit with damn the noise, will ya? I'm tryin' to sleep here…" it spoke, half-asleep. "Or I'll beat ya to dust…"

Rio blinked. That voice was… "M-Minerva?!"

"I said shut the hell up already..!" the voice mumbled, and sure enough, a tiny Meowth paw poked out from the webs, shaking its fist at Rio.

In a flash, Rio grabbed the arm and pulled it out of the webs. He brought the Meowth into a tight hug, squeezing her like he didn't want to lose her. Again. "Minerva! Minerva! It's really you! I've been trapped down here for so long it feels like! All Alone! Lost! I'm so glad I-"

Minerva slammed her fist into Rio's jaw, knocking the electrified Outlander on his butt. She fell out of his arms and landed on her feet, yawning. She had gotten just the teensy bit taller, and toned. Like from spaghetti arms to spaghetti arms with larger, stronger noodles. "The hell does a girl gotta do to get some…" she opened her eyes, staring at the… yellow dog thing before her. "...the hell're you?"

"I-I'm Rio," Rio whined as he rubbed his jaw.

"Bullshit, he's blue and… normal. Who the hell are you?" Minerva said, growling.

"N-N-N-NO! Wait! It's really me, I swear!" Rio pleaded, holding his arms up defensively. "We're best friends with Kora!"

Minerva squinted at him, then took a step closer.

Rio yipped and backed away. "We're both friends with Kora! The Zoroark!"

"Rio..."

"W-We all ate from the bakery on my first day here, and you and I fell into pastry heaven!"

"Rio..!"

"We even fought together a few times, like against Zen when he went mad! And against Nari at the hot springs!"

"Oh for…"

"E-Everything down here is so crazy and wants to kill me except for the giant Galvantula and I found another thing with my powers and I'm so confused and nothing makes sense!"

'You just went and totally forgot about me, huh? Harsh.'

"And now I'm a gross yellow electric mess and I don't know what's going on and I hate this color and I want outta this place!"

"Rio, can ya shut the hell up for five goddamn seconds!" Minerva shouted, stomping her foot. She managed to shut him up, and let out a relieved sigh. "Holy shit ya just went on and on, ya tryin' to give me a damn headache? I believe ya already just shut up!"

Everything went quiet for a moment, then Rio suddenly got teary eyed. Minerva blinked and stepped back. "What? Why's ya face like that?"

Rio then dove into Minerva, wrapping his arms around her and shoving his face into her chest. "Oh thank god you believe me!" he cried out. "It's been such a long day, I thought I was going insane! I can't believe I finally found someone I can talk to!"

'Again, harsh.'

Minerva sighed and grabbed Rio's face,squishing his cheeks and holding him up to look him in the eye. "So ya sayin' ya ain't found no one else?"

"No, it's been just me all day," Rio said, whimpering slightly.

Minerva let out a groan and dropped Rio's head. "Fantastic. Spent a week in hell an' all I got for it is a whacked out Blue. Or… Yellow, now."

Rio blinked. "Wait a we-" his head hit the ground, "-ow, a week? It hasn't even been a day. Or, well, a day since I woke up."

"Ya mean ya recovered an' came down here for us?" Minerva snickered. "They hell took ya so long? Did Kora come with ya?"

"No I mean… I woke up in here, and as far as I know, it hasn't been a day since then," Rio clarified, picking himself up. "I got chased by something in the dark, then wounded up here. Did you know the gems are just, like, solid aura?"

"Yeah, I've been livin' off o' 'em for a week…" Minerva whined, climbing onto Rio's shoulder. "I already miss food…"

Rio shook his head. "It has not been a week… At least I really hope not." He snapped his digits, accidentally creating a flash of lightning. "Huh… Anyway, I gotta ask, were you the one that, uh… fought those Galvantula?"

"Nah, I've been helpin' 'em," Minerva said, licking the back of her paw. "Poor bastards were in the middle of a big ol' brawl when I fell in. Some o' them were covered in mushrooms an' shit, an' they groaned all creepy like. Freaky shit."

"Oh… that's a relief. Kinda," Rio tittered. "I thought they were sending me down here to fight you, haha."

Minerva laughed, patting Rio's head. "Like hell ya could beat me in a fight, Yellow! I told 'em about my friends, and Zen, and asked if they'd be on the lookout for y'all for me. I can't find the way outta this place, and they were gettin' their giant asses kicked. Figured I might as well beat some faces in while they looked for ya and, well uh… the time flew by pretty fast."

"Then, why were you in a cluster of webs? I had to take so much electricity that I threw up, uh, electricity," Rio shuddered, pointing at the mess he made. "I hated every second of it…"

"That's… disturbing. And ya coulda just yelled, like ya did anyway," Minerva snickered. "That was my makeshift room, found out I got some kinda electric power or some shit, watch." She hopped off Rio's shoulder and rested her paw on the wall, and her body suddenly lit up, much like the cluster did before Rio su- absorbed it. All the webs suddenly sprung back to life with electricity, blinding Rio for a moment. "Ain't that badass? Kora's gonna love it!" Minerva snickered, flexing her arms. She somehow looked more muscular than Rio...

"W-Well I can do the same thing," Rio huffed, then snickered. "But that is awesome."

"It's awesomer for me since I ain't no Outlander," Minerva huffed, climbing back onto Rio. "Now c'mon, I might as well go an' stretch my legs. And by that I mean stretch your legs since I ain't walkin' no more."

"Lazy," Rio scoffed.

"Ain't ya the one that cried like a bitch when ya saw me?" Minerva grinned smugly. "I ain't sayin' Imma tell the others, buuuuut…"

"Can I put you back and get a refund?" Rio whined.

"Nah, I'm with ya for life. Or until we find Kora," Minerva snickered, wrapping her teeny arms around Rio's head in a crackly hug. "I'll be honest, it is nice to have someone that speaks… I, uh… missed havin' y'all around."

Rio smiled, nuzzling his head into Minerva and patting the back of her head. "Yeah, me too."

'Seriously? If I had proper feelings, I'd be so hurt right now…'