Rio was already aware that his brand new color palette was an eyesore, but seeing some of the Galvantulas turn away from him and stare in disgust was a new sort of painful. He picked up his pace, trying not to look at the judgemental stares of the beasts around him. Minerva, meanwhile, got a good kick outta it.

"Even these guys think ya look like shit!" Minerva laughed, patting Rio on the head. "Ya better find some way to turn it off before they kick ya outta here for public indecency!"

"I'm trying to figure it out," Rio whined. 'And by "I," I mean you,' he thought, throwing a mental jab at the voice in his head.

'How many times does a guy have to say this is outside his area of expertise before people start believing him?'

'Bitching and moaning about my bitching and moaning isn't gonna get us anywhere,' Rio sighed and shook his head. With a bright flash of light, Rio shot off towards the exit.

Waiting there for him was the very same Galvantula he flipped right-side-up earlier, who was happily hopping on its many legs and chittering as Rio almost shot past it. It snagged him with its mandibles in a creepy, buggy hug.

"H-Hey, big guy..!" Rio wheezed. "I-It's nice to see ya too…"

"Ya made friends with one already? Damn… I had to fight for 'em an' meet the boss before they gave me a room o' webs out here," Minerva chuckled and sighed. "Mighta had somethin' to do with me attackin' 'em on accident."

Upon hearing Minerva's voice, Galvantula immediately let go of Rio and scuttled back, letting out a surprised squeak as it backed into a wall. It shook in place, staring fearfully at Minerva, who smiled and waved back. "Oh… yeah… I uh, I remember this one. Sorry big fella."

"What'd you do to him? Her? It?" Rio asked after catching his breath.

"It's a dude. Er… was. I mean, he still is but..." Minerva tittered, rubbing the back of her head. "I, uh… was a bit scared the first time I bumped into 'em and… punched."

Rio tilted his head. "Punched? I don't get it..."

'Please tell me you aren't this dense…'

Minerva chuckled nervously, tapping her digits together. "D-Don't worry about it, hehe…"

"...Well, ok then," Rio shrugged. He looked back to Galvantula, smiling. "Whatever she did, I'm sure she promises not to do it again, alright? Minerva's too nice to try and hurt someone for no reason."

"Yeah, I promise," Minerva said, nodding. "I won't even go anywhere near there, cross my heart."

"Gal…" he hummed, looking Minerva over. Her eyes darted to the side, nervous. Galvantula then, eventually, nodded and chirped. "Van vantula!" he went back over to Rio, stood up on his hind legs, and grabbed Minerva in a tight mandible hug.

A long wheeze left Minerva's mouth. "I-I think he's aight now…" she choked. "P-Please… l-let go…"

Galvantula chittered happily, then tossed Minerva onto his back, then quickly tossed Rio back there as well. Minerva caught Rio, holding him above her and grinning. "Hell, Yellow, were ya always this light?"

"I dunno, probably not," Rio chuckled, rolling out of Minerva's grasp and sitting behind her. "Now then, uh, Galvantula." It chittered, looking back at Rio. "Take us back to the, uh, hive I guess? Unless you know where the exit is?" Galvantula paused for a moment, then shook it head no. Rio and Minerva both sighed. Figured it wouldn't be so easy as to just ask.

"Hive it is, then," Minerva said, pumping a fist. With a nod, Galvantula sped down the tunnel leaving the chamber.

Rio and Minerva took this chance to catch up, but they didn't really have all that much time since they reached the hive in just under a few minutes. Once there, they were greeted by the first Galvantula Rio encountered, who was comparatively quite a bit smaller than the one Rio and Minerva were riding on.

"Hey again buddy," Rio waved, hopping off of the bigger Galvantula and onto the web bridge below it. Minerva gave a nod and went right back to Rio's shoulder. "I think you wanted me to find my friend, right? Thanks!" Galvantula stared at Rio and blinked, then it's face scrunched up. Rio choked and tears streamed down his face. "I-I know already, I look like a mess! Why're all of you so judgy?!" he whined.

Galvantula rolled its eyes and turned to leave, until the other Galvantula grabbed it. The two started talking to each other, which sort of escalated? It was hard to tell, but they were talking fast at each other, and the smaller one was definitely not enjoying it.

"Psst, Yellow," Minerva whispered into Rio's ear. "Ya wanna bet what they're sayin'?"

"Nope," Rio said flatly. "They sound pretty upset, though."

'But how much do you wanna bet this big guy's the father to this small one?'

Rio put his paw to his chin and hummed. '...What do you have?'

'What do you have?'

'I'm not betting if you have nothing to bet,' Rio shook his head. It looked like the Galvantulas were done with whatever they were doing, and the smaller one went up to Rio, glaring at him. He gulped, taking a step back. "Wh-What? What is it?"

Galvantula looked back to the bigger Galvantula, then groaned. It started walking along one of the walls, and the bigger bug type threw Rio and Minerva back on his back to follow behind it.

"We're really getting tossed around a lot here, huh?" Rio chuckled, holding onto Galvantula for dear life. "It'd be more fun if the threat of falling to my death wasn't currently present."

Minerva yawned, sitting on the side of Rio facing up. "I think ya complain too much. Ain't nothin' to be scared of here, just don't let go."

The two Galvantulas led Rio and Minerva through a series of tunnels and chambers, and most of it looked the exact same aside from the dwindling amounts of electric gems. With the rather prominent language barrier, one would have expected this to be a long, awkwardly quiet trip, but the larger Galvantula was more than willing to provide chitters and chirps in what was probably a very well-made Galvantula song. Or, from how many times the smaller, grumpier Galvantula turned back to glare at the bigger, friendlier one, it was just bad.

Fortunately, everyone was spared from hearing Galvantula's serenading voice as they reached their destination. The room Rio first arrived in. Although, from one of the upper tunnels that Rio hadn't even thought he would reach.

"Oh, sweet. This is where I found out I could s-" Rio cleared his throat. "Absorb these gems. I almost entirely forgot there were tunnels up here."

"What were ya even doin' when ya found out ya could suck rocks?" Minerva asked. Rio pouted and crossed his arms. "What? I'm just askin' ya a question?"

The Galvantulas crawled along the walls to the tunnel opposite of them. Once inside, however, the big Galvantula stopped suddenly, chittering and growling to each other. Before Rio could even ask what was wrong, both Galvantula shot down the tunnel, nearly knocking their passengers off of them.

They reached a chamber closed off by thick webbing, and sliced right through it to reveal a chamber more rich with electricity than most others. Several shattered gems were scattered across the floor, and large gems hung from the ceiling, dimly illuminating a long chamber of 'mon-made nooks and crannies filled with eggs. And quite a few shattered eggshells.

Several Galvantula bodies were curled up around the area, lifeless. However, several more marched along the walls and floors, crushing whatever eggs there were that hadn't suffered the same fate as the rest.

"Wh-What the hell?" Rio gasped. Upon further inspection, he saw that those Galvantulas had red and yellow mushrooms growing on their bodies. The sight of them gave him chills.

Minerva snarled and electricity crackled around her body. "Dammit! These are those creeps we've been fightin'! They got all the way out here?!" She jumped off Rio's shoulder. "How many of those creeps do we gotta beat before they learn their lesson?!"

The Galvantulas let out a ferocious roar, halting the mushroom insects and pushing them away from the eggs. A flash of electricity soon followed, and a powerful Thunder crashed into one of the Mushroom Galvantulas. Minerva's body crackled and sparked angrily.

"Rio, put that flashy power o' ya's to work an' help us get rid o' these creeps!" Minerva ordered, leaping from Rio's shoulder towards one of the piles of eggs. "Ya better be able to fight!"

'Oh shit, I-I wasn't ready for this!' Rio internally squeaked, watching the forced, stilted movements of the assaulting Galvantula. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead. 'I-I'm still getting used to this body! I don't even know what I can do yet! I'm not ready for this!'

'Rio, it's times like these that I like to push my catch phrase that has saved me from plenty of scrapes before… Hit them really hard.'

'That doesn't help!' Rio gulped, clenching his fists and sparking with aura. "I-I'll do what I can!" he said, his confidence already starting to fail.

"Yeah, an' coulda ya hurry the hell up with that?!" Minerva barked, slugging one of the approaching Mushroom Galvantula in the head. The beast's head cracked, and a dark, thick ooze spilled out. With another powerful punch, the Galvantula was sent crashing into another. "The hell're ya standin' around for?!"

"R-Right! Sorry!" Rio nodded. Fighting a feral couldn't be that much different from sparring with Zen and Zeke, right? And fighting a giant feral shouldn't be impossible. Minerva was already making short work of them, and so were those two Galvantulas they rode in on. Rio could do this! And Rio continued to tell himself this until he believed it.

One of the Mushroom Galvantula was approaching a set of eggs, but was pounced on by the two good Galvantulas. They ripped and tore into their enemy, tearing away chunks of exoskeleton and fur. Another Mushroom Galvantula raised was about to attack a group of eggs, ones relatively far from the rest.

Rio shook his head and gritted his teeth. "I-I can't just stand here and watch!" he growled, shooting forward in a blinding flash. In an instant, he slammed his forehead into the Mushroom Galvantula's, stopping the beast for a moment. Unfortunately, the attack barely did anything.

A pair of mandibles swung at Rio's legs. He zipped back to avoid it, now standing between the eggs and his attacker. More electricity surged around his body, and Rio threw out two blindingly-fast punches, both of which doing absolutely nothing.

"I-I can't fight…" Rio stepped back. His aura crackled away and fear drenched his face. "M-Minerva! I can't fight!"

"What?!" Minerva snarled, grabbing a pair of mandibles before they crushed down on her. She tossed the Mushroom Galvantula back towards the regular Galvantula pair, who promptly sliced at it with X-Scissor. The Mushroom Galvantula's body hit the ground, more of that green ooze spilling onto the floor. "Dammit, Rio! The hell do ya mean ya can't fight?!"

Rio sped around the Mushroom Galvantula he was fighting, jabbing and punching and kicking it faster than the eye could perceive, but none of his attacks were doing anything. "I can't hurt it! I-I don't know what's wrong, I just…" he saw the feral heading for the eggs again, so he swiftly ran in and grabbed them, then dashed back out of harm's way. "I'll grab as many eggs as I can, do you think you can fight?"

Minerva's aura doubled in size, furious. It was hard to look at directly. "The hell kinda question is that?! Just get the eggs an' stay outta our way!" she ordered, standing before Rio with the two Galvantula by her side.

"N-Noted," Rio gulped. His aura sprung back to life, although it paled in comparison to Minerva's. Luckily, the light of both of their auras lit up the rest of the room. Unluckily, Rio got the chance to see the Mushroom Galvantula more closely. Sickening white tendrils suffocated their bodies, pulsing gently. What's worse, their eyes were a vacant, milky white. Even when they looked at Rio, he couldn't tell if they actually saw him.

'...I have an idea, but get those eggs first.'

Rio didn't respond, still staring at the grotesque forms he had been battling this entire time. That Minerva had been battling for her week down here. It wasn't until his body suddenly lurched forward that Rio came back to his senses. "H-Huh?"

He looked down at his chest spike, and a strong strand of webbing had attached to him while he was distracted, coming from the larger Galvantula. He stared with desperate eyes at him, before turning back to the Mushroom Galvantula and attacking with the other Galvantula and Minerva.

Rio blinked, then shook his head and nodded. "Right," he huffed, pulling the web from his chest. "Right!" His aura sparked even higher than before as he zipped from crevasse to crevasse, grabbing all of the eggs he could and returning them to the safety of the chamber's entrance.

The further back he went, Rio saw a few smaller, faster Mushroom Galvantula grabbing eggs and carrying them deeper into the chamber. They were even smaller than that grumpy Galvantula he arrived with, and the mushrooms on their bodies were a bit larger than the others, almost entirely covering their abdomens.

'Yeah… Yeah don't mess with those. Grab the eggs if you can, but do not hit those mushrooms.'

"I wasn't planning too," Rio shuddered. He zigzagged close to one of the small Mushroom Galvantulas, trying to feint approaching on one side and instead approaching from the other. Without even looking at him, however, the feral leapt high into the air and attached itself to the ceiling, with an egg still firmly in its mandibles. Rio growled, launching himself into the air after it, but the Mushroom Galvantula again jumped out of his way.

"Dammit!" Rio's aura crackled brighter, and he shot himself off the ceiling towards the Mushroom Galvantula faster than before. It didn't have enough to get out of the way, but it did turn so its mushroom was facing Rio. He tried to stop himself before he hit it, but soon found that was quite an impossible thing to do.

'What're yo- Hold your breath!'

The Electric-Lucario took a deep breath and closed his eyes before crashing into the spongy mushroom on the Galvantula's back, sending a thick cloud of spores into the air. The urge to suddenly inhale was hard to ignore, but Rio fought it as best he could, crawling away from the spore cloud in a desperate scramble. His aura sparked around him all the while, zapping away the lingering spores on his body.

'Forget about these guys, just grab as many eggs as you can and bolt! I definitely figured out how to beat these things.''

"Ok, but are puns really necessary?" Rio groaned, panting slightly before zapping off to gather more eggs.

'Yes. And, I need you to hear me out, you know how I said not to mess with those big mushrooms?'

Oh god, Rio could already tell where this was going. "Yeah…" He arrived back at the entrance, where Minerva and the Galvantulas were getting cornered by more Mushroom Galvantula than there were when Rio left. Even the ones that were torn into and cracked open stood and fought like nothing had happened.

"I don't get it! I caved in these bastards' skulls an' they can still fight?!" Minerva hissed, flashing green ooze off her paws. "An' where the hell did more come from?!"

'Aw, yeah, just as I thought. You gotta tear off those smaller mushrooms.'

That was exactly what Rio didn't want to hear. "Great…" he groaned. "Alright, Minerva, I think I know what we gotta do."

"Says the Outlander that can't fight worth a damn," Minerva growled lowly.

Rio winced, then shook his head. "Just… Watch me." In a flash, he sped around the group of Mushroom Galvantula, then jumped onto one of their backs. He grabbed onto the two mushrooms on its back and pulled as hard as he could, tearing the mushroom and the creepy tendrils off of it. The Galvantula body then fell lifeless to the floor. Rio crushed the mushrooms in his paws, shuddering uncomfortably at the vile, squishy mess it made. "Why… why did I do that…" he whined, sparking his aura around his paws to zap away the crushed mushrooms.

The other Mushroom Galvantulas immediately took aim at him, charging him down with a speed they did not show off before. Rio yelped and jumped into the air, grabbing onto the gem above him. However, the Mushroom Galvantulas didn't stop following him, trying to climb onto each other to get to him. "H-Help would be VERY appreciated!"

"Well damn! I guess ya got a bit o' brain instead of brawn!" Minerva laughed, running over to a Mushroom Galvantula and upending it with a mighty uppercut. The feral landed on the top of the pile, scattering them all over the floor. While the Mushrooom Galvantulas were trying to correct themselves, Rio zipped off the ceiling and removed the mushrooms off of a couple more.

"Alright, that's only a few left," Rio exhaled, shaking mushroom gunk off his paws. He hardly had a second to himself as another Mushroom Galvantula came up from behind him, mandibles primed and ready to- and he already moved out of the way. Onto the feral's back. "I uh… why was I so scared of these earlier?"

'Because you didn't realize how goddamn fast you became.'

"Right…" Rio hummed, zipping on over to Minerva to snatch her out of the way of an attack. She gave him a grin and a nod, then went off to help the other Galvantula. "It'd be kinda bad if-"

'I swear to all of the gods on this planet I will slap you across the face a hundred times if you finish that sentence.'

Rio did not need any further convincing than that. There were only two more of the Mushroom Galvantulas left, yet they didn't look to be backing down any time soon. Both mushroomed ferals charged Rio and the others down, clashing mandible-to-paw and mandible-to-mandible with Minerva and the big Galvantula respectively. The small Galvantula leapt onto one of the Mushroom Galvantulas, slashing at its head until green oozed from it, then slicing the mushrooms clean off its back.

There was only one left, and it simply refused to back down. It let out a bone-chilling roar, causing Minerva to let go of its mandibles and sent her rolling back. When the small Galvantula tried to attack it, the Mushroom Galvantula jumped into it, bashing their heads together. With a painful hiss, the small Galvantula hit the ground.

The Mushroom Galvantula went to attack the small Galvantula, until Rio stepped between then, glaring and snarling. Strangely, Rio felt the feral glare back. And its eyes… were they less cloudy than the others? It was about to strike Rio with its mandibles, when a large flash of electricity distracted it.

"Back right the hell off!" Minerva barked, grabbing a piece of a shattered gem and chucking it with all her might. The gem pierced the side of the Mushroom Galvantula's head, and unlike the others, it let out a cry of pain.

Rio's body locked up. That scream was… no, it couldn't have been… He shook his head and slapped his cheeks, then shot off like a lightning bolt onto the Mushroom Galvantula's back. It tried to shake him off, and in its moment of distraction, the big Galvantula struck the gem shard deeper into its head. Another cry left the beast as it lashed out blindly, catching the two Galvantulas and Rio off guard. The Electric-Lucario shut his eyes, swiftly snatching the mushrooms off the creature's back.

Again unlike the rest, this Galvantula didn't immediately drop to the ground. Instead it stood, staring at the other Galvantula. Its eyes faded from white back to their natural blue, although dimmer than they should have been, and the white tendrils cracked and fell off its body into dust. It stood on shaky legs, eventually falling on the ground with a dull thud.

"Phew…" Rio was about to wipe his forehead, but realized he still had crushed 'shroom on his paws. He shuddered, sparking the fungi with his aura and shaking his paws off. "I honestly can't believe that this is what you've been dealing with… for a week."

With a proud grin, Minerva hopped onto Rio's shoulder. "It ain't no easy job, beatin' creeps. But…" she looked over the many shattered eggshells that the dim and fading gems illuminating, and thought of how many more there may have been. "Shit, this is a new low for 'em bastards. Makes me sick…"

Rio nodded. "Yeah… let's get the rest of the eggs back to the hive." He then snapped his digits, creating a tiny spark of static. "Oh, and like… there were these smaller Galvantula with huge mushrooms deeper inside, and I think they were… stealing eggs? And they were so fast too, I couldn't catch any of them."

"Really?" Minerva blinked, looking to the two Galvantula. "Either o' ya got any clue 'bout smaller versions of these creeps?"

They both had a puzzled look about them and shook their heads, saying, "Galvan."

Minerva sighed and shrugged. "Well shit, I don't like the sound o' that. Last thing I need is a new creep crawlin' up my back."

She patted Rio on the head. "Let's hurry the hell outta this place, it's startin' to make my skin crawl."

"And it's starting to reek…" Rio groaned. Shattered eggs turned bad fast, it seemed.

The Galvantulas created a basket of webbing to carry the eggs back to the hive, which the smaller Galvantula decided to handle. They all went a fair bit slower than usual, cautious of the eggs' safety, so it took a good while for them to get back to the hive. But hey, at least the larger Galvantula had ample time to serenade those around him.

Much to their dismay…

Once they reached the hive again, the Galvantulas marched across web roads and crawled along walls, going deeper and deeper into the hive chamber. As they got lower, the warmer it got, both temperature-wise and the color of the light given off by the electric gems. Before Rio could even wonder why, he saw a few Galvantula wrapping a strange gold-colored web around a few gems. As it did, the air around it warmed up quite a bit, and the golden strands turned a deeper shade of gold.

"This place just gets stranger and cooler the longer I stay in it," Rio muttered.

'And you might be one of the first people in who knows how long that has had the opportunity to experience it! Along with me, of course. And Minerva.'

Rio rolled his eyes, then looked over to Minerva. She opted to sit in the web basket to make sure none of the eggs fell out. "You ever been this deep before?"

"A few times, yea," Minerva answered, shuffling around a bit. She was about as comfortable as one would think she could be, sitting in a basket of eggs. "Got all buddy-buddy with their leader, a big ass Galvantula. An' it's lookin' like that's where we're goin'."

"A bigger Galvantula?" Rio scoffed. "Bigger than these already huge Galvantula?"

"Yea, is that all that hard to believe?" Minerva raised a brow. "Ya sucked a gem and came out lookin' like someone barfed yellow paint on ya, but a bigger Galvantula is hella unrealistic?"

Rio would have made a retort, but had nothing. "...Fair," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. A silence fell over them, aside from the chitters and creaks of bug activity, broken shortly later by Rio. "How, um… how big?"

Minerva snorted. "Don't tell me you're scared, Yellow! Ya can't be that much o' a chicken, right?"

"N-No, not at all," Rio said, swallowing. "You know what, don't even answer that question for me, I wanna see this leader with my own two eyes!" he said loudly, getting stern glares from the Galvantulas they passed by. Rio let out a nervous squeak, trying to make himself as small as possible. "S-Sorry…"

Deeper still they went, eventually coming down to a web cluster similar to the one Minerva was holed up in, but far larger than hers. A lot of the large trails of webs led to this massive cluster, supporting it on the walls above a pit that, despite how far down they had gone, no one could see the bottom of.

Both Galvantulas crawled across one of the supporting strands to the cluster up to a wide opening at its front. They were stopped by two Galvantulas, who both glared at Rio and Minerva before looking at the bug types carrying them. After some chittering that Rio and Minerva didn't even bother to pretend to understand, and the sudden silence that followed, the guarding Galvantulas let them inside.

The interior of the cluster was, surprise surprise, made of webs. But what made it special was that the webs were more of that fancy gold webbing. Everything had a sort of glitter thanks to that, and electricity that surged through it gave a pleasant crackle. It was very pleasant on the ears, as well as Rio's aura feelies. Yeah, he didn't try to think hard about it either.

While the cluster was large, Rio didn't expect it to see other passages and halls inside it, nor did he think it'd take a good ten minutes to reach the center. A third surprise was graciously handed to Rio when he saw how huge the room was, there was even a breeze. Rio didn't even want to begin to figure out how that worked out. Electric gems jutted out of the walls and floor of the room, with a giant electric gem in the middle of the room, and on top of that…

"O-Oh shit…" Rio gulped, seeing the creature that sat on top of it. A Galvantula. A very, very, very large Galvantula. Several times larger than any other Galvantula in this place. The hair on its body was longer and spikier than the others, and the design on it was wild and jagged. The cute lil horn-looking tufts of fur on its head jutted back like lightning bolts, and its eyes were a piercing crimson rather than calming blue. Rio was having trouble believing that this thing was, at some point, born. Or, hatched, rather.

Minerva snickered, grinning at the Electric-Lucario. "What'd I tell ya, Yellow? This bitch is big."

Upon hearing Minerva's voice, the massive Galvantula crawled down the side of the gem. Rio froze in fear, his aura sparking anxiously around him. The head of this Galvantula alone was twice Rio's size, and its mandibles were just as long as he was.

It stared at the four arrivals silently, soon locking its many eyes with Rio's two. The Electric-Lucario did his best not to make any sudden movements, grabbing his tail and holding it close. "I-I-Is it friendly?" he asked Minerva, too scared to move his eyes away from the giant.

"I sure hope I am, I don't think a hive queen would be all that loved if she wasn't." Some calming, motherly voice spoke, adding a giggle to the end of it. Which is strange, since that wasn't Minerva, and Rio didn't think he sounded like a mom. Was there another voice in his head?

"Hey, Nize, sorry to drop in on ya all o' a sudden," Minerva said, slowly getting out of the egg basket and hopped on over to Rio's side. "This is Yellow, er, Blue, I mean. One o' my buddies I was tellin' y'all about. Actually, his name's Rio but… yea, you get it."

Rio glanced over at Minerva, staring blankly. "Who… Who are you talking to?"

"Probably me." There was that voice again. If its source wasn't a mystery, it's calming and soothing tone would have calmed and soothed Rio. For some reason, though, the giant Galvantula waved a mandible at him, just as he heard that voice too…

Minerva rolled her eyes and bopped Rio on the back of the head. "Did ya suddenly turn blind an' deaf, Rio? She's standin' right in front o' ya."

The Lucario blinked at her, then looked directly in front of him. All there was was a giant bug face. "Hi there!" And there was that voice again..! "It is a pleasure to meet one of Lady Minerva's friends, and such an… interesting looking one too! I don't think I've seen a Pokemon with such a disgusting coloration!"

"..." Rio shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "Minerva is this Galvantula talking?"

"Yea," Minerva replied.

Rio nodded his head, resting his chin on a paw. "And it just made fun of my color?"

"Well, it's a she, and again, yea."

Rio, again, nodded. This time letting out a hum. "Minerva did you teach a Galvantula to roast me?"

Minerva snorted. "As if I had to teach anythin' to flame ya for that piss-colored hide on your ass!"

"That was exactly what I was thinking! Gods how vile!" the massive Galvantula laughed, which was soon accompanied by the two smaller Galvantulas chittering.

Rio pouted, curling up into a ball. "Wh-Why does everything down here hate me so much..?"

"Oh my, it has been a long time since I laughed this much. The last, before Lady Minerva's arrival, was perhaps when a baby Joltik walked right off a web path and plummeted into the depths of the hive!" the massive Galvantula sighed, shaking her head. "We spent several days trying to find that poor baby, but as it turned out, it didn't fall nearly as far as we thought!"

'That's supposed to be funny?" Rio thought to himself.

'It is kinda funny…' the voice in his head huffed.

'You're both sadistic, aren't you?' The voice didn't respond to that.

"But that is besides the point, yes, I am the hive queen Nize. Come, come! I've been waiting for another such as Lady Minerva to arrive!" Nize said, walking around the gem she was on earlier. "Silky, Gavan, I would like a word with these two in private. Please go face a wall and tune us out, dears?"

The two Galvantula that Minerva and Rio had befriended nodded, letting Minerva and Rio done and doing as they were told. It wasn't long before the bigger of the two started singing again, and the smaller one shoved their face into the wall.

"Silky and… Gavan?" Rio muttered, looking over at the two again. "They have pretty cute names, actually."

"A lot better than 'Rio the Lucario' that's for sure," Minerva snickered, hopping onto the Electric-Lucario's shoulder.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rio glared. "My name's a lot better than 'Minerva,' at least."

Minerva scoffed and shook her head. "Blind, deaf, a pain to look at, and objectively wrong? Man, this dungeon really messed ya up, huh?"

Before Rio could whine about getting bullied again, Nize loudly cleared her throat and motioned them over. On the other side of the gem was a large bed of webs, and before that was a cute little table, also made of webs.

Nize sat herself down on her bed of webs, an overjoyed look in her eyes as she urged Minerva and Rio to sit at the table. What are the odds she made it herself? "I have been waiting for millennia for another Pokemon to sit at this table! And now I have two!"

That answered that question…

"It's, uh, nice to see ya happy an' all, Nize, but we ain't here with good news," Minerva sucked air in between her teeth, rubbing the back of her head. "It's… about the hatchery, there was an attack."

Nize's joyfulness escaped her, and her head sank a bit. "I… see. That would explain the basket of eggs. For a moment, I thought you and Gavan finally buried the hatchet an-"

"I ALREADY TOLD YA I AIN'T INTERESTED IN 'IM!" Minerva shouted, gritting her teeth. How unfortunate for Rio that she was right next to his ear. "Gods, read the room!"

"...Minerva this room is made of webs. And I have long forgotten how to read," Nize said, blankly. Minerva's eye twitched, but instead of having another outburst, she simply bit her lip and banged her head against Rio's. Nize tried to hold a dumbfounded expression, but quickly dropped it in favor of snickering and giggling.

The voice in Rio's head erupted into laughter. 'This Nize lady is a riot! We should totally take her with us!'

"Whatever… that was aside..." Rio cleared his throat, ignoring the voice. "This is kinda important, uh, Nize. Those mushroomed guys were destroying eggs, and some smaller ones were stealing them."

Nize cocked her head to the side. "Really? Stealing our eggs is… new. And worrisome. I don't have the slightest clue those possessed few would need our eggs for…"

'She seems a lot less worried about this than I thought. Pretty sure'

Rio stopped himself from shrugging and crossed his arms. This Nize lady just doesn't feel right. Whether that had something to do with being in a dungeon… Rio wasn't really looking to find out. "How come you sound so calm about this? Do you not believe us or something?"

"No, I do, but do you expect me to panic?" Nize asked with a chuckle. "What good would that do me? Death is a tragedy, of course, but letting it get to me emotionally is a good way of getting more deaths. And I hope I don't have to say how much worse that is, hm?"

"Y-Yeah…" Rio tittered. Nize had a point, he couldn't deny that. Maybe Nize was just really good at staying level headed?

"We're lucky that you four saw this, I don't know how many of those monsters there were, but knowing how they fight, they probably outnumbered you by quite a lot, right?" Nize chuckled again. "But with Minerva's power and your… being an easy distraction, I doubt there was anything to worry about, huh? You even saved a fair few eggs! That's reason enough for celebration, and we can kill two bugs with one stone and mourn the lost at the same time! Wouldn't that be fun?"

'...She's either insensitive, insane, or both.'

'Agreed,' Rio groaned quietly, his shoulders dropping a bit.

Minerva finally quit banging her head against Rio's, crossing her arms. "That'd be fun an' all, but how about our ticket outta this place? Y'all still ain't found the exit?"

Nize stayed quiet for a moment, her crimson eyes dimming before she suddenly jumped up. "B-But why would you want to leave? This is one of the safest havens in this dungeon, isn't it? We have the numbers, we have room to breath, we have…"

There was an awkward silence, then Minerva sighed and hopped off of Rio's shoulder. "Nize…"

"If there is anything I can do to convince you to stay, Lady Minerva, you only need to say the word!" Nize sputtered, static crackling over her body for a moment. "We'd be more than willing to improve your cluster! More gold webs? Gems? Clusters? You want it, it's yours, Minerva!"

"Nize, please," Minerva said flatly, but was ignored. Rio himself was deciding on whether to look away or just leave.

"We can even find your own chamber, rather than keeping you in that one battlefield," Nize said, her eyes darting every which way as she kept trying to think of something to convince Minerva to stay. "I-If we need to, as per your wish, we'd gladly combine our fur with our webs to create clothing

Unfortunately for the giant Galvantula, Minerva put a stop to all that. She bopped Nize on the face, shaking her head. "Nize I ain't doin' this right now. I got 'nother friend to save, and I can't stay down here."

Nize got teary eyed and sniffled. Rio would have found that touching, but was too busy wondering how a giant spider-thing sniffled in the first place. "I… I know. I know you shouldn't, and I know you have other things but… I am going to miss talking with someone outside of feral speak. It's a miracle I managed to retain it this long."

It was about time Rio said something again, wasn't it? "What do you mean? How long have you been down here?"

"I lost track, unfortunately. All I know is that it has been too long," Nize muttered. "And with this size of mine, I don't think I have the ability to leave. Not that I had that to begin with."

"Don't be such a downer, Nize. Once me an' my buddies are done with our bullshit, I'll drag 'em all down here to get ya and ya family outta this place," Minerva said with a confident grin, then pressed her forehead on Nize's mandible. "All ya gotta do is wait for me, alright?"

Nize chuckled weakly, rubbing the side of her head against Minerva's. "That is all I've ever done, wait and fight, then more waiting, then more fighting. But, I will take your word on this, Lady Minerva. Please… do not let us down…"

There was a moment of silence, before Minerva nodded and said, "I ain't ever let anyone down before, an' I sure as hell ain't startin' with you."

"Thank you…" Nize spoke softly, standing tall once again. Rio and Minerva both felt the need to stand straight as well. "Then, I won't delay this any longer. We have found the exit, sooner than expected. I feel I may have wasted some a fair amount of your time, and for that, I am sorry." Her eyes flicked towards the giant gem that concealed them from the rest of the room, and she rolled them. "Silky, Gavan, I believe I told you to tune us out. Come out here."

The head of the happier of the two Galvantulas poked from behind the gem. "G-Galvan…" he said, then sheepishly walked out into the open.

"Thank you, Gavan," Nize chuckled. "But I said both of you. Which includes you, Silky."

With whatever the spider equivalent of a pout was, the remaining Galvantula, Silky, joined everyone else, standing next to Gaven. Nize snickered and shook her head. "Since you both want to eavesdrop on us, I'm tasking the both of you with escorting Rio and Minerva to the exit. Then, report back as soon as you can. We have preparations to get to, and only so much time to do them."

Gavan nodded, scuttling over to Rio and tossing the Lucario onto his back. Silky let out a huff and approached Minerva, allowing her to climb on its back. The three Galvantula then chittered amongst themselves, before Nize nodded and looked to Rio and Minerva again.

"I wish the two of you the best of luck. And, should you see any Galvantulas out in the dungeon, tell them 'Galvan van,' for me. That should convince any of my family you meet to return home," Nize said, her voice soft.

"Galvanvan? What does that mean?" Rio asked, tilting his head. Feral speak sounded exactly the same to him, but saying that out loud felt… maybe a bit offensive?

"No, not 'Galvanvan,' it's 'Galvan van.' It means, for our purposes, 'return home.' Feral tongue requires you to be very tonally accurate. Gal van van means 'See you soon,' and the all-too similar 'Galvanvan' means 'goddamnit,'" Nize giggled, then turned to Silky. "Which just so happens to be Silky's favorite phrase."

Silky huffed and glared at the giant Galvantula. "Don't give me that look, dear," Nize cooed. "You can't possibly be saying I'm wrong?" In response, Silky crossed their mandibles and growled, muttering under their breath.

"Man, I'm gonna miss y'all lots," Minerva sighed, then pouted and crossed her arms. "Quit makin' me regret havin' to leave ya jerks!"

"No no, I didn't mean to! Maybe…" Nize tapped her mandibles together shyly. "I have already wasted more of your time than I should have, and I deeply apologize. But if you do not leave before long, this cursed place will change you irreversibly," she said, shaking her head. "And, no, I don't mean like how you've become piss yellow, Rio."

"That wasn't needed and you know it…" Faint whimpers left the Electric-Lucario. "And I was just about to tell you about those freaky Galvantula too, hmph!" Rio pouted, turning his head away.

"Awww, don't be like that, Yellow!" Nize cooed. "It's actually a lovely shade of yellow! If I was to go blind to any color, I'd rather that than… uh…"

'Man, you just can't catch a break?'

'I know…' Rio whimpered, his head dropping to the side. He sucked it up, putting on his big boy pants and trying to ignore the constant bashing he was getting today. "Fine… I'll tell you. Despite that piss-poor attempt at a compliment."

Minerva and Nize snickered between themselves, and received glares from Rio. "Anyway… I don't think we can really touch those things. They have these huge mushrooms on their backs, and hitting them sends spores everywhere, and breathing that in would be bad. I wish there was a way to hit things but like… from far away," he hummed, his ear flicking in thought.

Silence. Then more silence. It took a bit more silence for Rio to realize that he was, once again, being stared at. "Wh-What?"

"Your friend… he isn't very bright, is he?" Nize asked Minerva, putting on a whispery tone but not even trying to quiet her voice. "I mean, other than his fur."

"Sure as hell ain't lookin' like it…" Minerva sighed.

"Van…" Silky and Gavan chittered, the former deadpanned and the latter chuckling.

'Finally, someone who understands what I've been dealing with this entire time!'

"I hate it here…" Rio brought his knees to his chest and turned away from everyone. 'Wait wh-why are YOU ripping into me too?!' Rio mentally yelled.

'It's fun, and I'm bored.'

Nize laughed and snorted, which is something Rio would have found cute if the one snorting was a big jerk. "Perhaps it isn't a given that every electric type would know how to be an electric type, but I digress. How many times must we try to end this conversation before we actually do? The longer we wait, the longer we all are at stake, after all!"

"Sayin' goodbye is just… hard sometimes," Minerva shrugged. "Right, Rio?"

Still curled up on Gavan's back, Rio looked over his shoulder and said, "Screw that, I've been waitin' to say goodbye since I got here…"

"Pfft, p-perhaps I need to work on my hospitality?" Nize laughed. "In that case, I am sorry. Is there, by any chance, a way for me to make it up to you?"

"Galvanvan..." Fed up with all the time being wasted in goodbyes and how many times this should-have-already-ended, Silky jabbed Gavan in the side and made for the exit. "Gal van Galvan vanvan…"

Nize shot Silky a glare. "Ok, language like that is pushing it. Even if you have a point, you don't need to be so vulgar, Silky."

Silky shrugged, jabbing Gavan again. "Tula," it said, nodding its head for the larger Galvantula to follow it out.

"See ya, Nize!" Minerva waved.

"Bye…" Rio raised an arm, then let it fall to his side.

"Farewell, Lady Minerva and Rio! May we still be a thriving hive whenever you both return!" Nize called back, waving. "And perhaps Rio will be of a less painful-to-look-at shade of yellow?"

"QUIT MAKIN' FUN OF ME!" Rio let out an angry bark, shaking his fist at the massive Galvantula and nearly falling off of Gavan.

Outside of the massive cluster, all of the Galvantulas were scurrying around, some tending to clusters of Joltik, others carrying electric gems to webbed tunnels to electrify them, and others still gathering into groups, chittering amongst themselves anxiously. Silky and Gavan spoke very few words to the Galvantulas that crossed their paths, focused on getting Rio and Minerva to the exit.

And yet, through all that chaos, Rio still felt all, if not most, of the Galvantula staring at him like he was covered in trash. It really was getting annoying, and it still stung, so Rio buried his face in the surprisingly soft fur Gavan had. Like a fluffy, buggy pillow. Gavan chittered happily

A long walk full of judgmental stares later, and they had finally come up to a small chamber, with a single tunnel within. It was underwhelming, yes, but the vast darkness inside it was still neat for Rio to look at. And that faint breeze that flowed through it was as close to a breath of fresh air that he would get.

"Yeah, this is definitely an exit," Rio grinned, hopping off of Gavan's back. "Looks like this is it, it's been fun!"

"G-Galvan…" Gavan sniffled, grabbing onto Rio with his mandibles.

"I'll miss you too, Gavan," Rio smiled, petting the giant bug on the head. What was that thing Nize said was, 'see you soon?' Rio thought it for a moment when he remembered one of the things she told him. "Galvan van," he said, hoping he got it right. The saddened look he got from Gavan, and the tears forming in the bugs eyes, said otherwise. "N-No, wait, I-I wanted to say see you soon! Aww, don't cry, I'm sorry!" Rio sputtered, wrapping his arms around Gavan's head and getting teary-eyed himself.

Silky and Minerva rolled their eyes, accidentally looking at each other and snorting. "Take care ya grump. I better come back to ya an' Gavan still kickin,' ya hear?" Minerva said, gently hitting Silky's mandible.

"Gal van tula," Silky scoffed, hitting Minerva back.

"Imma take that as a yes," Minerva smirked, nodding. She walked over to Gavan and Rio, grabbing the jackal by the tail and yanking him away. "C'mon Yellow, we got shit to do!"

"W-Wait-ow! O-Ok just lemme get up!" Rio yipped as he was dragged across the floor. Pebbles and stones rolled under his body rather painfully. "C-Come on, th- yowch! Th-That hurts!"

Similarly, Silky was struggling to pull Gavan back towards the hive. "G-Galvan!" it barked.

"G-G-Gal!" Gavan sniffled, waving goodbye to Rio and Minerva.

When Rio managed to get back up on his feet, he gave the two Galvantulas a wave and a smile. "Take care, you two," he said. Minerva jumped onto his shoulder, and the two took a deep breath. The rest of the dungeon was waiting for them, and what they had seen here, where it was supposed to be safe, was still crawling in the backs of their minds. Rio shook the jitters from his body and looked to Minerva. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be, Yellow," Minerva nodded. "But we both know it ain't us we gotta be worryin' about, right?"

"Yeah…" Rio faced the exit tunnel, resting his paw over his chest. "But he'll be alright. All of us will. We're gonna be… we're gonna be heroes." He left that to linger in the air for a bit, thinking about those Mushroom Galvantula. Especially that last one… Before anything could come of it, Minerva snapped Rio back to reality.

"Are you ready?" Minerva asked. "Spacin' out down here probably ain't the play."

"Right, yeah, sorry," the Outlander tittered. "Just... thinking."

'Don't linger on those kinds of thoughts, Rio. You need to keep moving forward, or you'll be weighed down by the regrets those thoughts bring with them.'

Rio blinked, not sure what to think with… that being tossed at him all of a sudden. It felt unfitting coming from the voice, far more serious than that voice tended to be. He didn't stand there thinking about it, taking the advice he was given, and walked through the tunnel.

"I'm... ready," Rio said, stepping into the dark. First things first, they find Kora and the others, then, they get out of this place. For some reason, that felt easier said than done...