It got tougher as we went along. That was undeniable. In the first level, there was only a couple of paths, we had access to food, and the boss was defeated with one blow. The second one had fresh air and a ton of different berry bushes, but the Butterfree had very nearly wiped the floor with us, and would have should Valérie's Bide have kicked in a second later.

All levels had had their advantages, even including the one with the, erm... unmentionable boss. But the increasing cons were starting to outweigh the pros.

It had been about two hours since we'd started the walk through the dungeon. Boy, it was hot. Kieran and Valérie had obviously started up the complaining, followed by Lola (who had the legitimate excuse of her thick fur coat), while Gab, Chloe and I added nothing to it, because we were the well-behaved half of the group. We walked along stretches of cave walls, rocky and brown. It was lit, but so thinly that I wasn't sure whether we were going toward the light source or passing it. We had enough to see where we were going, but not enough to see what was at the end of the tunnel.

I led the group, casually followed by the five others. Travel boredom had settled again, though there was chatter in the back of the group. With nothing else to do and not much to look at, I listened in.

"You guys think that when we get home, we should have a celebration dinner?" Gab asked. "I'm down for a pizza party when it's all over."

"If we want to go out, we could all go eat at IKEA," Chloe said. "It's cheap enough that we could afford it."

Kieran looked confused. "I don't... feel like eating wood. Maybe a burger or something?"

The Swablu shook her head and giggled. "No, I meant the restaurant part of IKEA."

I turned my head at that point. I was invested. Kieran started squinting, his expression akin to the one he sported deep in a math problem. That expression didn't change even when he'd gone all the way from human, to Kakuna, to Beedrill.

"IKEA is a furniture store," he said after a couple seconds of intense consideration.

"There's a restaurant in it," Chloe insisted.

The squint intensified. "No, that doesn't sound real."

"You've never heard of their meatballs?" That was Lola. She'd slowed her pace to walk to Kieran's side. "Dude, my brother lived off of those in college."

The skeptical look on Kieran's face might have been worth all the portal-travelling nightmares, but, then again, we could've had this breakthrough anytime during class. Not worth the trouble.

"No. That's fake, you're messing with me."

I had to admit, it made it sound less convincing if Lola jumped in on the joke. And I knew about the restaurant. It was real. I'd gone there.

"No, seriously, my brother loves those", Lola added.

"There's no restaurant in IKEA."

Valérie jumped in. "The one in Montreal also has a playground for the kids while the parents shop. Don't know about the other ones."

"Stop it. I won't believe any of you until I can google it."

And that wouldn't happen for a while. Kieran walked away in a huff, putting his head against the wall, as I walked right into one myself. Snickers from the others echoed in the hall. Did I really get that distracted?

"About time for a break anyway," I sighed, pulling my head away.

I backed up to get with the group, but noticed exactly what I'd bumped against: a dead end. There had been a couple forked paths in this cave, and I guessed we'd have to start exploring them. I felt like I was in an anthill.

Before we could even move out, though, my ear twitched. I heard what sounded like grunts and footsteps, but it was faint, still a distance away from us.

We were faced with another Pokémon, it walking around clumsily. As it came into view, rounding the corner twenty meters away from us, my heart jumped. It was an orange lizard that was probably the size of an average man, but was downright gigantic to our Pokémon selves. Two horns adorned the top of its draconic head, and a set of wings on its back suddenly became visible, followed by a flame on the end of its tail. The dragon was on full display now. There was a full-fledged Charizard in front of us. The only good news from that: it was one of the only Pokémon I knew. The bad news was that we were stuck between a wall and a fire-breathing dragon.

It hadn't seen us yet, so I started barking out orders, readying the formation. "Kieran, get behind the group! You're gonna look for a sting opening, but other than that, stay low! Chloe, take to the air for a vantage point! Gab, you're Electric, you're up in front! Everyone else, just be ready for attack!"

"Wait... Gab... Gab Powell?"

The voice had come from the Charizard. It undeniably sounded a lot more human than the foes we'd grown accustomed to fighting. Not only could it articulate sentences, but it knew Gab's last name. I took a glance around the group, and everyone else was just as shocked. We were all still in position, but not mentally. Our tensed muscles couldn't decide whether to relax or to tighten. We were just this unaccustomed to anything not trying to kill us at this point, I guess.

I looked to the Charizard, who reciprocated the eye contact. I must've looked just as confused as it did. With help from my Litleo vision, I noticed its eyes were a clear white, with dark brown irises and black pupils. It started walking toward us, in a non-threatening way, folding its wings for balance and a size decrease. I saw its tail drag on the floor and, through my own embarrassing memory, I recognized the telltale signs of it not being used to having it. The flame's light danced on the walls and I could see better as the dragon walked closer.

It finally stopped and looked down at Gab, who was in front, and she looked minuscule compared to an actual dragon. She had her back to me, so I couldn't see her face, but I had learned to see her subtle tail wags and sharp inhalations.

"Mr. Henry?" She asked, voice cracking from what I'd pinned down as... hope?

A glint of recognition in his eye was all it took. I'm not sure what our teacher expected, but he was not ready for a Chloe to the face.

"Mr. Henry!"

The uproar in cheer was amazing. We all went to surround him. I slowly stepped forward, my body accepting the situation before my mind could process it. Chloe had settled on the top of Mr. Henry's head, right between his horns. His smile showed as much teeth as a Charizard had.

"Ok, we've got Gab, and..." He said, pointing to the different students in the room. He looked up. "... And this has to be Chloe."

"Yep!" She hummed in excitement.

"Who else is there?" He looked around. "Wish I had my clipboard."

I didn't say anything. I was still so stunned. There was someone else here! We'd been Pokémon for longer than we'd known our substitute teacher, but he was someone we knew! My tail shot up, curling at the end— a sign of friendliness I'd learned from meeting Kieran's cat. Though a subconscious response, I didn't mind it. I felt so relieved!

"So there are other people from the bus here," Kieran sighed. "Thank Christ."

Another obvious, yet strange realization. So we weren't the only ones swallowed up by the portal. Somehow, seeing another person made it… realer. To my reassured mind, though, it made no difference and I was still in the midst of a dream-like giddiness.

"You kids didn't see anyone else either?" Mr. Henry inquired. He wasn't much older than us by our school's teachers' standards, probably in his mid-twenties at most. Nonetheless, we answered to "kids" with scattered "no"s. He was still an adult.

"Let's get a move on, then, huh?" Lola announced. "I'm Lola, by the way."

"Got it," Mr. Henry nodded, squinting. He seemed vaguely disconnected from it all, like he was still dealing with the initial shock. Maybe going it alone for so long could do that to someone.

Gab went straight back to walking on ahead with Lola, the two grinning excitedly. I could not blame them. Valérie finally stepped forward toward the Charizard.

"Valérie Breau," she stated, with a severity like she was in a military squadron. Despite that, she couldn't suppress a smile. She left with Kieran, following Gab and Lola. Mr. Henry turned to me.

"Micheal, right?"

I nodded.

"Figured. You're the shy type, aren't you?"

I nodded again, this time with less enthusiasm. That was the kind of thing I didn't really like people noticing. I realized that must've meant he'd noticed this while teaching. Bummer.

"He's a Normal/Fire type," Chloe sighed, still fit snugly on top of Mr. Henry's head. I guessed she just liked to use any Fire type as a perch.

Then, we went ahead.

Thankfully, the next turn we took did not lead to a dead end. Further in, I could actually tell things were getting brighter, a light amber coating the walls. It wasn't long after that we spotted light through the cave opening.

As I started accelerating, Chloe zoomed past me. The gust following her did not offer relief from the heat. She'd already landed and started to hop excitedly when I reached her at the opening, as did the others. The gasp we inhaled was as one.

This was far more spacious than any other cave we'd explored so far. Before us sprawled an entire stadium-sized chamber, a high stalactite-covered ceiling blanketing the whole. The light did not come from above, but below.

Far, far beneath us flowed a lake of lava, as well as several streams and rivers that split the chamber's floor.

Mr. Henry, lagging behind, reached us at where we'd stopped. "Wow."

"Let's go," Lola urged, already starting to step down a rather steep stone ramp.

"Now, wait a minute," the Charizard warned. Lola froze. "Are we really going into a volcano? Can we survive that?"

"You have a flame on your tail," Kieran said. He was more quiet than before, and he kept his wings and stingers close to him.

"You okay?" I whispered.

"Mm," the Beedrill nodded.

Mr. Henry continued. "I know Pokeymons can do weird things, but this seems extreme!" He scratched his head, having to bend his neck to a comical level. "I'm not letting you guys go near lava."

"You know, normally I'd agree," Valérie sighed. "But where else can we go? Not like the fort."

I let out a bark of laughter at that. Yeah, a far cry from our original destination! We'd been over it a million times, but sometimes the absurdity still cracked me up.

"Not like the fort," Mr. Henry echoed, resigned. "Fine, but I'm going first. Seems less dangerous, since I'm the chaperone and, uh… the fire, and all."

He took a hesitant step forward, claws harshly grazing the rough igneous rock. For a flying dragon, he looked especially scared of heights. His tail swished on instinct, its weight helping him to keep his balance while advancing. I saw his claws reach for a grip on the floor, but his arms were too short for them to be of any help.

"Are we supposed to follow him?" Lola whispered. "Like, right now, or does he want us to wait?"

"We should go ahead," Valérie said.

"Micheal, you go first," Gab suggested.

"Me?!" I hissed back as quietly as I could.

"You're the other Fire type," she shrugged.

I focused my eyes back on the ramp. The grooves and ridges carved into it told me that magma had once flown on this very path, petrifying into stone while still defining it by remnants of movement. I cast a quick glance back toward the tunnels. A larger part of me than I'd like to admit had instantly thought more lava would crash in from behind us. Hoping my fur didn't noticeably stand on end, I put a paw further down the ramp. Then another. The surface was porous and dry under my paw pads, almost brittle. As I kept walking, my tail angled itself into various positions so I could use it as a counterweight.

Chloe flitted about, floating on the warm streams of air that rose through the chamber. Even Gab was joining her, the Emolga gliding with ease despite carrying a backpack.

"I should probably learn how to do that, huh?" Mr. Henry commented, looking up.

"Whenever you're comfortable, sir," I said. It wasn't meant to be condescending. His movements were still kind of jerky and uncertain, and I didn't want to rush this whole situation into the air.

While Lola's claws audibly scraped the floor, Valérie might as well not have been affected by gravity. She kept up the pace easily and without stumbling. Kieran walked a few feet behind me. I noted that it was a bit odd that he wasn't flying down like Gab and Chloe. The pit was enough to spook anyone, I guessed.

Finally, we reached the bottom. Somehow, the chamber seemed even bigger from our new viewpoint. The lava stream split the area clear in two, and more ground had been taken over by scattered fiery pools here and there. The odd water droplet fell from stalactite to stalagmite, transferring minerals and, over decades, helping the walkable ground to become even more cramped. Though the lava and magma sizzled its orange into the whole scenery, the rock varied in colour. We'd transitioned from the earthy browns of the tunnels to mostly black rock with splotches of gray and white, the latter mostly settling on the relief on the floor and ceiling. I saw glimpses of green pinpricks shining on the rock, too small and fleeting for me to confirm they were there.

Kieran grimaced from the dry heat. Ah. Guess that's what that was all about. We'd need to find some water soon. Why hadn't we figured out how to transport some? I glanced at Valérie and remembered she did have a Water-type attack, but the thought of drinking it made me a little queasy. What if she tried to attack with Hidden Power and accidentally made a nearby classmate hurl their water back out?

"Okay. Single file," Mr. Henry scolded. Lola wandered back close to us, having gone off to inspect… what else? The lava river. The thing that could kill her. Mr. Henry nodded as everyone reassembled themselves into a mostly straight line. "Stay behind me. We'll check what's on this side."

It was a little silly to fall back on the default field trip rules, but that was what we'd set out to do in the first place. Besides, it felt nice to have someone older call the shots for once. To my knowledge, most of the class liked Mr. Henry, even though we tended to talk over the lesson sometimes. He was a bit strait-laced for a substitute, but he was nice.

The careful walk didn't yield much at first except silence. Barring the ceiling, the chamber was pretty open, so we could see a lot from a distance before heading closer. Not much to hide there. Mr. Henry raised his hand, signalling us to stop when we were nearing a recliner-sized hole in the wall. He inched closer to inspect it by himself. I knew he was the teacher in all this, but we did come here by fighting several monsters and braving nightmare dimensions for four weeks, while his wings still sometimes sagged behind him as he walked. It was almost like he'd been here a lot less long than we had.

… maybe he had.

"All clear," he said rather quietly. Clearly, that cave had more bark than bite.

Approaching the opening, I noticed the half-spherical shape it took. Everything from the wall to the ceiling was smooth. Maybe a lava bubble had popped while the rest was solidifying? The alternative would be a strong enough impact to seamlessly carve into the wall. The emptiness of the cave unsettled me far more than its existence.

"Lost my marbles over a hole," Mr. Henry grumbled. Somehow, I felt like we were running him less ragged in this death dungeon than in class.

"This group has done worse," Valérie responded, arms crossed.

"Don't know what you're talking about," Lola grinned.

Valérie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. Hey, by the way, shouldn't you go first on the walk anyway? You're, like, psychic."

"You're Psychic type."

"You know what I mean! The other kind!"

Kieran turned to Mr. Henry and pointed at the great bickering with a stinger. "Like that. We lose our marbles like that."

"I can believe it," Mr. Henry said. "This has got to be your longest history class yet, am I right?"

No one laughed. We knew. We'd joked. We'd passed it an hour ago and it was too soon to revisit it again. I thought then that substitute teacher humour was as much of a constant as Kieran complaining about things. How is it that when authority figures try to join in, all the fun disappears?

"No student loans here, though," the Charizard shrugged, walking down the wall again. "That doesn't seem real."

"Ha!" Lola pretty much shouted. Right. Brother in college.

"There are so many weirder things we've seen," Valérie groaned.

"Were you the one to write back in the mushroom level?" Chloe asked excitedly, turning to the Charizard.

"The mushroom level?" Mr. Henry asked, his head tilting slightly to the side. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."

We didn't let a disappointment hold us back for long and went straight into explaining the guide's tips back when we'd first landed. It was filled with a surprising amount of laughter, interruption, and questions. I guess all it took for us to laugh at our experience was to meet one other person. However, it seemed to unnerve Mr. Henry, for a reason I honestly saw coming.

"There's other places?" His wings lay askew, never in an upright position for more than a minute. The tail was low, and even though the flame at the tip burned bright as a bonfire, the rest of his body felt like a crude costume. A Charizard in front of me this was not.

"You know, this whole week has taken its toll," he sighed. Wait, only a week? "I just… I just need to get back to my kid."

Woah, he'd gone straight to family talk. Oh, boy. It seemed everyone had decided on not bringing it up, an unspoken rule I'd vouched for. Again, it had been four weeks. It would be very different if we had any kind of answer, but for now, worrying did nothing for us except very rarely driving us forward. I didn't want more big stress breakdowns, not out of selfishness or lack of empathy, but because I knew one straw could eventually break the camel's back. A pessimistic view, sure, and it was the only thing I could think of managing for my classmates. Easing tensions, stopping fights, making sure everyone spoke up every once in a while… I had to do it if no one else would, because in the worst-case scenario my life depended on it. So did all of theirs.

I snapped out of it. "We're walking home," I smiled. "Whether through lagoons or volcanos, we're walking. Don't worry, sir."