Ethan looked up from the map Fennekin had been drawing around the Alomamola Falls, surveying the area before looking back down. "Have we been here before? That ridge up there looks kind of familiar."

"I don't even know," she groaned. "All these trees and rocks are starting to look the same. I can hardly tell up from down at this point."

Ethan looked up from the map, then back down before looking up again. Was he holding the map upside down? Turning it around didn't seem to help much. "I think we're lost. Or I don't know how to read this map...or both." With a groan of his own, he started rubbing his temples. "I need a break."

"So do I." Fennekin yawned, then plopped down on the ground and leaned up against a fallen log. "Do you think we're in the right place?"

He sat down on the log, his feet right next to her head. "I don't know. I'm even starting to wonder whether or not there is a right place."

"You mean you're not sure if this place exists?"

"I was never sure, but I thought it might. Now, I don't think it does."

A long silence stood around them, punctuated only by the occasional buzzing of insects or croaking of frogs, before Fennekin gave a big sigh "I think you're right. Or maybe we're just not being diligent enough."

The two sat in silence for a few moments, Ethan absentmindedly looking over the map before speaking up. "Hey, Fennekin?"

"Yeah?"

"I apologize if this is crossing a line, but...try to stay positive? I think we're being as diligent as we can be."

A very small smile broke onto her face, and he could tell by her eyes that she didn't want it to. "Thanks. Not crossing a line, I guess I just need to be reminded of that."

"I do know what you mean, though," he sighed. "Everything's running together. I feel like I can barely make any details out anymore."

Fennekin giggled. "Maybe it only comes out at night. 'Starlit' Grove and all, you know."

Ethan shrugged. "Worth a try, at the very least."

"You're kidding." Fennekin rolled over, looking him in the eyes. "You have to be kidding, right? It was a joke."

"Team Stargazers, Starlit Grove. Why not? Maybe it's fate."

"Or just a massive coincidence. Come on Ethan, stop it. It's not funny anymore."

"Who said it's a joke? Come one, one more pass, just for fun."

"I said it, and I say it's a joke. You said it yourself, you can't tell anything apart now."

After folding the map back up and putting it in their bag, Ethan hopped to his feet. "Come on, worst case we stretch our legs a bit before bed"

"My legs are as stretched as a Hitmonlee's," she moaned while shakily getting to her feet. "What's this about, Ethan?"

"Just think it would be good to do one pass before settling down for the night and heading back tomorrow, that's all."

Before responding, she put up a foreleg and stopped Ethan. "You're making fun of me, aren't you?"

"Make fun of you?" he repeated. "Why would you think that?"

"Ethan." She stepped in front of him and got right in his face, eyes locking with his; he could practically feel the heat from the fire in her eyes. "Are you making fun of me?"

"No," he squeaked out. "And I mean that sincerely. If I'm being honest, I'm trying to make you feel better."

"Oh." She backed away from his face, her own quickly turning red. "Sorry."

"Why would I be making fun of you?"

"Well, I said the thing about it coming out at night, then you jumped up and said we should look into it. I thought that was just you mocking me for saying it. And it was just a joke, anyways!"

"But why?" he reiterated. "Why would I make fun of you for that? I mean, it's as good an idea as any that I had today."

Fennekin simply stood there for a few seconds before scoffing. "I don't know why you would, but some Pokémon would."

"Like who?"

"I don't know, just...some Pokémon, I guess." She scoffed again. "Are we going to go look for it one more time or not?"

"Doesn't hurt. Even if we don't find this place, it's kind of pretty here at night. I swear the stars have gotten brighter and more numerous since we've left Pokéopolis."

"They are a lot prettier out in the wilderness," Fennekin admitted. "Most Pokémon say it's because of all the light in a city, but I think it's more than that. Out in the wild, it's just so quiet and calm. It was kind of nervewracking when I first started traveling to Pokéopolis, but I really grew to love it. It makes me feel alone, but in a good kind of way. Do you know what I mean?"

"I…" Ethan trailed off, deep in thought. "I don't think I've ever actually been alone since coming to the day you found me. Always been with someone since then."

"Oh." She giggled nervously. "Makes mine sound kind of sad, doesn't it? Saying I like being alone and all?"

"I don't think so, I can understand wanting to be alone sometimes. And I'm pretty sure I'm one of the only people who can say they've literally never been on their own that they can remember, so there's that fact as well."

Fennekin sighed slightly as they started slowly walking around, halfheartedly looking around. "I guess I've not really been on my own a lot, but it really felt like it a lot. My mom was really busy and we never got along when she was around, so we kind of avoided each other. Maybe I think it's a good feeling of being alone because I was usually alone and stargazing was what I did to calm down, I don't know."

Seeing a fallen log on the ground in a small clearing ahead, Ethan walked towards it and sat down. "I can't tell if I loved the stars or never really noticed them as a human, because they're fascinating; either this is stirring some memories in me I never knew I had, or you're opening my eyes for the first time."

Fennekin came and sat down next to him. "Well, either way, you're welcome I guess. Crazy to think though, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"That these are the same stars." She looked up, eyes glistening with the beginnings of happy tears. "Every human and Pokémon in the world right now is looking up at the exact same stars we are and seeing the exact same thing. That's always made me feel really tiny, but…" She paused. "I don't know. It's kind of comforting. Knowing that we're all here together, and even if it's something as simple as the stars above us, we all have something in common we share."

"Poetic."

"Stop," she giggled; while the light was too low for him to see, he was sure that she was now a bright shade of pink.

"I've never really looked at it that way, though. And you're right; that's honestly kind of fascinating. With how big the world we know is and how big the world we don't know must be, it's hard to believe it's all just the same place. Maybe we could explore it all some day?"

Fennekin laughed lightly. "I want to explore as much as I can, but I'm realistic; even all of Marnica seems like a big challenge, and we have no clue how much larger the world beyond us is! I'd love to see at lea…"

"At least…?"

Fennekin looked down, then back up at the stars before repeating the same sequence. "Do you see something ahead of us, near that hill to the right? It goes away when I look right at it, but I swear there's something just kind of in the corner of my eye."

Ethan moved his head down, only for it to be moved back into place by a warm and fuzzy paw. "No, keep your head where it's at and try to look at it without looking at it. Like, don't move your eyes or your head, but keep an eye on the corner of your vision. Without moving. Does that make sense?"

"Honestly? Not at all."

"Okay, uh...keep your vision where it's at. Keep looking at the stars. Does it feel like something's kind of out of place somewhere, not directly in your field of vision, and you want to look around to try and find it?"

Ethan kept looking at the stars, and tried to relax his vision so he wasn't staring; after a few moments he noticed that something indeed felt off in the lower right corner. After instinctively moving his head to look and getting it gently put back in place by Fennekin, he turned slightly to her while keeping his gaze skyward. "You're right; looks almost like it could be a mystery dungeon entrance from here."

"Do you think it could be?"

"Why not? I mean, with how weird and crazy mystery dungeons are, who's to say that one wouldn't be able to only come out at night, under the light of the stars, while you're looking at them?"

Fennekin was silent for a few moments before softly speaking. "I guess when you put it that way…"

"Worth a look, if for nothing else." He slid off the log, careful to keep his eyes skyward. "Doesn't seem like it's that far away, so what's the worst that could happen?"

Fennekin got off the log, also trying to keep looking at the stars. "Could be a cliff. We are in the mountains, after all."

"I'll hold your hand; if it is a cliff, you'll just catch me and pull me back up."

"Oh." She cleared her throat slightly. "Maybe I should go first? I'm not very strong if I can only use three legs, but you're fine only being on two."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Hopefully we can tell before we get there whether or not it's a cliff?"

A few nervous giggles came from Fennekin before she reached out and grabbed his hand with one of her paws. "I hope so. Falling down a cliff wouldn't be a fun way to end my first expedition."

"Have a little faith in me," he joked. "I sure do. Not a lot, but a little."

Fennekin's laughter changed from nervous to relaxed. "I'd like more than a 'little' faith that you could keep me from falling off a mountain."

"Maybe a medium amount of faith, does that work? That enough?"

"What about certainty?"

"I could maybe do a lot of faith."

She laughed again. "That's the best I'll get, isn't it?"

"Probably. We're getting pretty close and the ground feels pretty flat and stable though, so maybe we should be safe."

"Flat and stable ground before not being safe is how cliffs work. Can we slow down, just to be extra careful?"

Ethan slowed down, letting Fennekin lead the way. "Just go slow and keep holding onto my hand, alright?"

"Right." She slowed down as well, inching her way towards the anomaly while keeping her neck craned skyward. Inch by inch she moved, leading Ethan, until he heard a few taps on the ground. "I can't see the stars anymore and it's still solid ground, I think we're safe."

As he let go and brought his neck back down, his eyes adjusted to the even darker conditions of the small grove they were in, canopy overhead. Not far in front of them a small stone path started, eventually leading into a large archway made of similar stones that opened up into darkness.

"Think this is it?" Fennekin asked.

"It's the closest thing we've seen to a mystery dungeon up here. Only one way to find out, I guess."