Soul Aria was as mystifying as it had been before, with its oddly large interior compared to its tiny exterior and aura practically beckoning in the curious passersby. Astrid still couldn't help studying their surroundings and Raijin did a double-take too, but Cinder didn't care too much. The Delphox was naturally perched at her table, and a Meganium was ambling out while lamenting 'I knew it! And he says I suck!' while shaking her head.
"Hello again, dearies!" Delphi called, giving a playful wave. "I knew I'd be seeing you again.~"
"Afternoon," Cinder said matter-of-factly, striding straight up to the table without wasting much time.
Astrid and Raijin both couldn't help studying the Fletchinder making a beeline for Delphi's table when he hadn't tagged along for any clear purpose other than admiring another Fire-type (dubious of a reason as it may have been), but nonetheless, they didn't protest it.
"H-hello," Astrid said softly.
"I'm guessing you saw us coming," Raijin mused.
"Oh, of course!" the Delphox easily replied. "One of your bosses on Ultra Space had a terrible day and now you're all planning an infiltration, isn't that right~?"
"That's right," Cinder was the one to answer.
"Well, you can definitely make use of my services, then.~ Come here, let's get all nice and close.~"
Astrid and Raijin weren't far behind in strolling up to Delphi's table, Astrid hopping onto the top too albeit sticking closer to the edge than the other avian. Cinder was quickly roosting close to Delphi rather comfortably, albeit still with standoffish eyes that practically dared anyone to make a remark about how fluffy or cute he was while nestled down. The Delphox herself even giggled a bit and gave one of his wings a few pats, for which his eyes twitched ever-so-slightly, but Astrid had to think that such was normal for Cinder- he'd ripped into Arashi for getting close before too, even if the circumstances were different.
"So," Delphi said nonchalantly, "how can I help you today?"
"Void," Astrid quickly but softly replied. "B-but, i-if I may ask first… Delphi, can you see anything about Arashi…? Is he still alive, is he poisoned…?"
"Well, I can certainly try," the Delphox replied, holding her wand out in front of her with the tip igniting. She stared into the flame for a moment or two, then closed her eyes in a look of concentration. "… I can't see into him at all," she said after a moment, opening her eyes again. "He might just be completely out of our reach on Ultra Space, or… he's evolved. The good thing would be, well, he's evolved, but on the other hand… he's evolved, and Dark-types are troublesome to us psychics, to say the least."
The Dartrix and the Xurkitree both nodded, giving each other a glance. Things being out of reach seemed to be a common vein for their occurrences, but nonetheless, they accepted it. If all else failed, they knew Lunala could probably tell them something if no one else could.
"Now, you want me to predict how this infiltration will go, yes?" Delphi inquired next, giving a playful flick of her wand.
"Please," Astrid affirmed.
"Then let's make sure we get the clearest look possible," was the reply. The Delphox glanced over her shoulder and called, "Stellar! Bring me the cards, dear!"
A bit of rustling followed from the other side of the back curtain, and shortly, a Shinx was emerging with a deck of cards held carefully in his mouth. Delphi retrieved them and set to shuffling them up, which Cinder evidently was entranced by from the way his eyes were practically glued to her hands, and Stellar retreated behind the curtain again. Astrid watched them too, as if picking a certain card might sway the future in their favor, but even so, she knew things probably wouldn't work that way.
Nonetheless, Delphi stopped and spread them out. "We'll start with you, Astrid. Go ahead and pick one."
The Dartrix thought for a second, then reached out and tapped one with one foot, which Delphi removed and placed face-down in front of the rest.
"Your turn, Raijin," the Delphox instructed next.
The Xurkitree followed suit, picking another.
"Cinder, dearie?"
The Fletchinder shook his head. "Don't mind me. I'll deal with the future when the time comes."
Delphi chuckled, giving the fiery avian a pat, which caused his feathers to fluff out again. "In that case, let's add one more just to be safe. I'll do the picking, but Astrid and Raijin, I'll let you two guide me. Think of which one you want, which one you're drawn to, and I'll pick the one that intersects with both of you."
They nodded. Delphi shut her eyes, and one hand practically floated over the spread with a few twitches as if being nudged by some unseen energy. Her hand drifted around for a moment, but finally, one of her claws touched down on one card and swiped it out from the rest. With one swift movement, she swiped the remaining cards back into a stack and placed them off to the side, then flipped the three chosen ones over. The first one that Astrid had drawn was flipped upside down and depicted eight golden cups in the foreground, stacked with five on the bottom and three on top, while a figure in the background seemed to be walking the opposite direction towards a rather barren landscape in the background. The one Raijin had drawn depicted a hooded figure with a silver sword in each hand and another jabbed into the ground, while in the background were two more swords strewn across the ground and another figure slouched in a rather defeated-looking posture. The third one, much more overtly ominous, showed what looked like the skeletal remains of a long-dead body plated in golden armor while several robed figures kneeling on the ground pleaded before it.
"… Oh," Delphi said, sounding rather taken aback. "… Oh, my…~"
Astrid studied the cards too, a bit unsure of what to make of them. The first two didn't seem that bad, but the third unnerved her just a bit from what it might entail. "Is that bad…?"
"Well, I won't lie to you, this doesn't look positive," Delphi replied, eyeing the cards herself too. "Let's discuss what they mean before we go jumping to conclusions, shall we? Then you can decide."
Astrid and Raijin nodded, the Dartrix fluffing up just a bit and the Xurkitree touching his fingers together in contemplation.
"Let's start with the first one that Astrid drew," Delphi said, giving the one with the cups a quick tap. "This is one belonging to the suit of cups, which as you may remember from last time, entails senses of connection and emotions. Specifically, look at how these cups are arranged- it looks like one is missing, no?"
Astrid studied it, and it did- it looked as though the figure in the card had been trying to stack them in a pyramidal shape with each of the three on top standing where two on the bottom had the edges of their rims touching, but to complete such a shape, one more cup would be needed to fill in the last remaining space on the top layer. She gave another nod.
"This would be a reversed Eight of Cups," the Delphox noted. "That entails aimlessness, abandoning the matter at hand, or giving things one last try before giving up."
And again, the leafy avian was fluffing up. "A-ah, g-giving up…?" she asked, getting a very uncertain look.
The other two that accompanied her looked rather surprised too. Raijin gave a twitch, studying her and tapping his fingers together.
"Now, now, don't get too flustered yet," Delphi said with a grin, giving Astrid a little pat on one wing. "If we look at Raijin's here, he's drawn the Five of Swords. You can see here, this figure in the background isn't having a very good day, and you can tell a battle has already been fought and decided from the swords laying around. But five is quite a lot between two individuals, no? Specifically, this card entails that, even if you win a conflict, there's already been a hefty deal of damage done that simply can't be taken back. In other words, there's a loss any way you look at it. The victory may as well be a defeat."
The Xurkitree twitched again, freezing up for a second. "… I sure hope that's a small conflict over something stupid and not a big one…"
Astrid fluffed up even more.
"Wow, this is really not going how you two wanted it," Cinder remarked, shaking his head and studying the cards too.
"You're not wrong," Raijin softly concurred.
"Now, I don't want you to freak out when I tell you what this last one here is, okay?" Delphi noted, giving them both a glance. "Hear it out first."
Two more nods.
"This one is Death," the Delphox carried on nonchalantly.
… Yet even with the warning, both the Dartrix and Xurkitree couldn't help the reactions that followed.
"'Death?!'" Astrid squawked, her feathers standing on end and eyes turning to little pinpricks.
"You've gotta be kidding!" Raijin exclaimed, twitching again like someone had taken one of the swords from his card and stabbed him with it.
They both cast each other glances, the Dartrix about as dismayed as could be.
"She picked that one with both of us guiding her!" Astrid fussed. "We're screwed!"
Raijin swooped her up in his arms, clutching her with rather panicked gestures. "I don't want anyone to die…! E-except for Void, but…!"
"Hey!" Cinder piped up, spitting a little ember at them that nonetheless fizzled out before it could actually do any burning. "She said not to freak out!"
Delphi only giggled at their reactions, and quickly, the two panicked ones were straightening themselves out. Raijin turned loose of Astrid and set her on the table again, and Astrid's feathers smoothed back out.
"W-what does that mean?" the Dartrix inquired.
Another chuckle came from the Delphox. "Well, first of all, Death is a Major Arcana, so I should tell you that this one is fairly influential in your spread. It symbolizes endings and major changes, or a 'death' to the status quo. Now, yes, that could signify a literal death or a figurative one, but that's not always a bad thing, no? Of course, you don't want your friends to die, but something like, say, the death of Void's influence would be a good thing. Don't let the name itself scare you off."
That calmed them down at the very least, and they nodded again.
"But, if you look at this altogether…" Delphi's voice trailed off, her eyes drifting back to the cards and an uncomfortable grin gracing her face. "… It really does not look like things are going to go well for you, if I'm being honest. You'll feel like giving up, the victories won't feel good, and the likelihood of things simply going back to normal afterwards is extremely slim. But, keep in mind, you're the Chariot and the Magician just like I told you last time. Astrid, no matter what happens, you have to keep moving down the path you've chosen, or you'll become aimless and your enemies won't have any trouble picking you off. Raijin, you've got everything and everyone you need, so keep them in mind if something overwhelming shows up and things will go much better. And if a black herald of death tries to strike either or both of you down, hang in there."
Another two nods followed, the Dartrix looking down at the tabletop for a second.
"… It makes sense now," Astrid mused softly. "The first time we were here, anyway…"
They studied her.
"What do you mean?" Raijin asked softly.
"The cards we drew," Astrid replied, looking up at her comrade. "Mine meant separation and heartbreak, and here we are without Arashi. Yours was about avoiding something or someone important to you, and here we are, not wanting to face Necrozma since they flipped sides. Arashi's was about feeling triumphant, and whatever his status is, well… I bet he'd feel really triumphant if Ultra Space's new ruler wanted him on her side. That last one's just a guess, but… y'know."
"… That makes sense," her Beast comrade acknowledged. "This isn't sounding good, but…"
"We don't have a choice," the Dartrix finished the thought. "We either make a move on her while we have the chance, or she makes one on us. And I'm willing to bet the latter has much slimmer odds in our favor than the former."
The Xurkitree curled one hand around her. "Me too."
Delphi, on the other hand, chuckled again. "Well, let's see if we can get a glimpse of what's to come and make those odds better.~"
They definitely weren't protesting. The flame at the tip of Delphi's wand burned a little brighter, and she stared into it intently. Astrid too gazed at it as if she too would see something, but of course, she did not, and Cinder too was eyeing it along with eyeing its caster. The Delphox's expression changed a bit, going slightly wide-eyed but still remaining playful, and Astrid couldn't help getting a bit apprehensive at whatever she was seeing that the rest of them couldn't.
"… Oh, my~" Delphi chirped after a bit, the flame dying down. "Well, what I can see is… interesting, to say the least.~"
The Starstorm duo perked up, while Cinder merely blinked.
"W-what do you see?" Astrid asked quickly, fluffing up just a bit.
"Well, I can still see much of the same vision that I saw for you before and a bit more along with it, though some things are still disconnected," Delphi noted. "That scene I saw of a scared Dartrix backing into a corner is still there, but it's become extremely muddled, and I'm having trouble making out both your silhouette and your surroundings for how dark and blurry everything is. After that, I can see a tower stretching to the sky with a blinding light situated at the top that radiates out like the sun, but it's far off in the distance. There's some Celesteelas circling it from above too, and the surroundings are fairly dense like a jungle."
Again, Astrid and Raijin looked to each other, and Cinder studied them a bit too.
"Megalo Tower?" Astrid inquired.
"Megalo Tower," Raijin replied. "Specifically from the south if there's jungle territory. So if Necrozma's at the top of Megalo Tower, where Void hides if she's feeling threatened…" He shook his head. "That's a starting point, but there are still several possibilities of what that could entail."
Astrid catalogued that snippet, several possibilities running through her mind too, but she didn't dwell on them too long. "What else is there?" she asked of Delphi.
"Well, after that, I can see a Xurkitree flanked by a Celesteela and a Guzzlord in very similar terrain to wherever you'd be seeing that tower from, so it must not be long after that last snippet," Delphi kept on. "But, unless the Xurkitree we have here can suddenly grow about a meter taller and likes being flamboyant while firing off lightning bolts, it's safe to say I'm not seeing Raijin."
At that, Raijin twitched, and both Astrid and Cinder fluffed up.
"A Guzzlord?" Raijin asked hesitantly.
"Another Xurkitree?" Cinder said, clearly not liking the idea.
"And one of those giant Beasts that guard and do surveillance…?" Astrid chimed in, not thrilled at all.
"That's what I'm seeing, yes," Delphi affirmed.
The Coalition members looked at each other.
"Let me guess," Astrid piped up, eyeing their own Beast comrade, "their Celesteela is the guard, their Xurkitree blasts everything, and their Guzzlord chomps down on whatever is left and gets rid of any traces of whoever they'd gotten into a fight with."
"Dead on," Raijin affirmed. "If I had to guess, I'd bet on that being their setup too. That's manageable, but… no one is ever happy to see a hostile Guzzlord. Heck, even a friendly one can cause trouble. There have been instances of those ones trying to devour their own teammates before, never mind if you give them an actual enemy."
Astrid blinked a bit, trying to envision such happening… then decided that was probably an idea rather left spoken than visualized.
"Sounds like you all need to watch out in that case, or you'll meet your impending demise," Delphi noted playfully despite the grim words leaving her mouth.
"W-what else do you see?" Astrid asked, still fluffed out as she turned back to the Delphox.
"Well, I can see that tower again- Megalo Tower, was it?- but it's gone dark."
Astrid and Raijin looked at each other again, thinking about the possible connotations.
"Then either Necrozma left or they went dim again, or both," Raijin noted. He shook his head and looked up at the sky. "Urgh, Necrozma, what is she doing with you?"
Astrid too would've liked to know, but of course, there was no way for them to directly get that information short of a miracle.
"There is still that one vision of Raijin dropping bolts on Zariel, and not much has changed in principle," Delphi noted, then getting a slight smirk, "In the same area, though… I can't make out the entirety of it, but I can definitely see a Decidueye- you, Astrid- with an arrow in one hand jabbing down at something repeatedly with blood splattered across your front from it, and Arceus above, you are angry! You sound like a flustered feral bird for all that squawking and screeching you're doing! There's someone yelling in the background, but the voice is fairly faint and I can't tell who they are or what they're saying."
That made the Coalition bunch pause again.
"I… R-really…? Just… stabbing someone with an arrow over and over again?" Astrid stammered, a bit taken aback. "W-who am I going ballistic on? Can you see?"
Delphi shook her head. "The only one I can see clearly is you, as if I'm watching you do it while I'm lying on the ground right in front of you."
Astrid blinked a bit too, and Cinder and Raijin studied her.
"That… doesn't sound like you," Raijin piped up, touching his fingers together. "Not that you can't or won't get dirty, but that… sounds like something else entirely. Like you're just mangling someone."
"… I-I mean, I smashed Ama's egg and stabbed leaves into that poor Rhyperior's eyes when he went nuts on me and Arashi…" Astrid said, though sounding uncertain herself.
"But there was a reason for that," the Xurkitree noted. "If you're jabbing an arrow into someone over and over again so much that you're splattered in blood, and if Delphi isn't seeing a struggle going on while you're doing it… That really does not sound like you."
The Dartrix blinked some more. "… Then either I'm poisoned or someone had to have majorly pissed me off."
"Or both," Cinder remarked.
They didn't deny it could be a possibility, but the Fletchinder's idea sounded less than stellar if it were true.
Nonetheless, Astrid shoved it to the back of her mind for the time being and inquired, "Do you see anything else, Delphi?"
"That scene of you being despondent while Arashi is trying to talk to you is still there," Delphi replied. "So I suppose you can rest assured that your partner is still alive."
That much was a relief, and Astrid let out a sigh as she nodded.
"After that, though, I see a wormhole opening with you about to jump into it, and everything beyond that is too blurry to make out," the Delphox continued. She got a slyly playful look as she leaned a bit closer, resting her head on one hand and studying the Dartrix. "But, I'm just curious and have to ask you… Why do you think that is~? What would make you completely shut your friend out like that?"
Astrid thought, but she shook her head. "… I don't know," she replied haplessly. "Ho-honestly, I really don't know."
Delphi studied her some more. "… Oh~? You don't think that maybe, once this is all said and done, you'd ditch this world and go back to the one you came from?"
It was an innocent enough question, and Delphi's tone wasn't pointed or aggressive in the slightest, but still, Astrid couldn't help fluffing out and blinking at the inquiry. "W-what?!" she responded, trying not to squawk but flustered nonetheless. "W-why would I do that?! I d-don't wanna go home…!" She looked to her Beast comrade. "We were literally talking about that the other night! Y'know, about me hiding in some god-forsaken cave that only you and Arashi know the location of, the three of us watching the storms on your homeworld together, Arashi posing at the wrong Buzzwole and us having to drag him out…!"
The Xurkitree curled an arm around her in a rather tight grip. "I-is it selfish to say I wouldn't want you to leave…?"
She shook her head, one foot curling around one of her comrade's fingers. "N-not unless it's selfish of me to want to stay here! And if it is, then I guess we can both be selfish together!"
Cinder blinked a few times at the happenings, but Delphi, on the other hand, started giggling again. Astrid and Raijin's glances both fell on her, the Dartrix wearing a rather unsettled look.
"Don't worry, I jest!" Delphi chimed back in, giving a playful wave of her hand. "We all know you don't want to leave.~"
Astrid breathed a sigh of relief. "I was worried for a second there…"
Another pat to her wing from the Delphox followed.
"Well, if we know where Necrozma is and who we might get intercepted by… that's a good starting point," Raijin noted.
"We can do this," Astrid said softly, her grip around her comrade's finger tightening up.
Delphi chuckled. "I hope you can, at least," she remarked with a hapless grin, resting her head on one hand again. "The natural habitat of a Nihilego is rather… wet, isn't it? At least, I've gleaned such."
"W-well, not exactly," Raijin answered. "The air is really thick and it feels a lot like being underwater, but there's not actually any water. The rock structures look like water plants you'd find on this world, but obviously, it's not even close to being the same thing."
Even if it wasn't the same thing, the Delphox started looking less playful and more alarmed. "Oh, that sounds awful," she said, sounding less enthusiastic too. "I can't believe you're going to a place like that, but I suppose someone has to."
Astrid perked up. "H-hold on," she chimed in, studying the Delphox, "Delphi, when we were at Sunken Cavern… Y-you're afraid of water, aren't you?"
"She's a Fire-type, you dunce," Cinder piped up, shooting the Dartrix an unamused look. "You wouldn't go swimming in lava, would you?"
The Dartrix fluffed out a bit, trying to sink into her feathers at Cinder's remark. "R-right, s-sorry…"
Delphi, on the other hand, gave her another pat. "Well, Cinder is right, but there's a little more to it than that," she replied. "You know, I've gone dungeon-crawling myself so I've taken an Aqua Jet or Water Pulse or two in my time, which is always unpleasant, but… drowning! I have no way of proving it definitively, but in a past life, I'm sure I went to an early watery grave before I got reincarnated in this body, and I am not repeating it!"
Cinder didn't seem fazed, but the Starstorm duo, on the other hand, couldn't help but be taken aback. Astrid definitely understood the sentiments about being afraid of drowning- getting dragged into the depths by an Octillery in Lake Lucent hadn't been fun at all- but the reason seemed… outlandish. She had a feeling that 'past life' to Delphi had a different meaning than her own uneventful past life that she'd left by Necrozma's intervention, and she couldn't help but be a bit skeptical.
Her Xurkitree comrade, though, was a bit more inquisitive. "Really?" he asked. "How would you know? I'm not trying to doubt you, I'm just… not quite sure how you'd figure something like that out…"
"Witch's intuition, dear, witch's intuition," Delphi brushed it off.
"Don't question a psychic; they know," Cinder added.
Astrid still wasn't quite sure, but nonetheless, there was no definitive proof to be had and therefore she merely accepted it for what it was. Raijin evidently did too, but he still seemed to be studying the Delphox.
At that moment, though, the door to the tent swooshed open again, and two familiar figures entered- an Unfezant with shimmering feathers and a Dragapult, the latter of which gave an amiable wave at seeing company.
"Did you get it~?" Delphi piped up, her gaze falling on her own two comrades next.
"We sure did!" Spirit replied, reaching between the cannons on his head and grabbing a rainbow-shrouded disc easily recognizable as some sort of valuable TM. "Kecleon only had a single one, too! I guess not many Pokémon use this one!"
Joker wasn't making a sound, only eyeing the Coalition bunch and brushing one of his streaming feathers out of his face.
"Which one is that?" Cinder inquired, jumping down from his roost on the table.
"Hidden Power," the Unfezant answered. "I may as well make use of these capabilities of mine before the world as we know it comes crashing down."
That definitely sounded like a reasonable statement, but nonetheless, something about how the Unfezant said it made Astrid perk up slightly as if there were something else at play. Delphi and Spirit both got grins, but such was to be expected and no one else seemed to be taking note of anything, so the Dartrix kept quiet.
"What is your team up to, might I ask?" Spirit inquired, giving the Fletchinder a grin. "I assume you didn't come here for nothing!"
"Ultra Space infiltration," Cinder said without much thought. "We're making a move on Void now that we've got the chance. Long story short, Salem did what Salem does best and ruined everyone's day, Necrozma's down, and Lunala's at our base making plans with Adnea."
The Dragapult was taken aback, but Joker merely blinked and stayed taciturn.
"You're heading into enemy territory, is that right?" Spirit inquired, looking them all over. "That's treacherous! You might need someone to protect you!"
"Well, between Rozen, Dren, and apparently Lunala too, hopefully we've got that covered," the Fletchinder noted matter-of-factly. "Not that anyone would protest hiding behind you and your cannons."
Astrid eyed the ghostly dragon, brushing a leaf framing her face aside. "Y-you like doing that, don't you…" her voice softly trailed off.
The next moment, the Dragapult was gliding over to her and swooped her up between his cannons, where the two Dreepies peeked out with their huge eyes at their adjacent company. She fluffed up a bit instinctively, but of course, they meant no harm and she deflated just as quick.
"I always look out for the little guy," Spirit replied. "You know, being tiny and alone is a scary thing! I didn't have a Drakloak or Dragapult to stick me on their head when I was small, so I am never letting that happen to anyone else!"
The Dartrix couldn't help getting a slightly happy look, even if the reason behind the sentiments was completely going over her head. "A-ah, that's sweet…"
Cinder, however, got a slightly shifty look, eyeing the dragon too. "Hey, now, who are you calling 'the little guy,' huh?" he asked fairly pointedly, as if he might go and peck the cannons off of Spirit's head depending on the answer.
"Not you, Cinder, rest assured!" Spirit replied without missing a beat. "I wouldn't dare!"
Both the Dartrix and Xurkitree gave their comrade a look, Astrid's being rather skeptical to silently ask if he was serious (and Raijin wouldn't have been far off if he'd had the necessary features to express such outwardly). Cinder didn't say a word and his eyes only burned like little hot coals, telling them to shut up with all but words. They weren't going to say anything one way or another and dropped it moments after.
Astrid gave both of the Dreepies a very quick pat with her wings and hopped down onto the table again, piping up, "Th-thanks, Delphi. We appreciate it."
"We do," Raijin corroborated, slipping the bag off.
"You're a lovely Delphox," Cinder chimed in, sounding uncharacteristically nonchalant.
The Delphox giggled playfully, giving the Dartrix another pat while she looked them all over. "Oh, you can always come see me, and I'll give you everything you need.~"
The borderline suggestive wink that followed made the Dartrix blush underneath her feathers, but she still kept her beak shut. Raijin turned over the necessary coins in return, and shortly, the Coalition bunch was heading off again while apparently Team Mirage took to discussing something amongst themselves. Astrid couldn't help feeling that they were coming up with some sort of plan of their own that wasn't being spoken out loud, but without much else than a hunch to go on, she didn't ask.
"Okay, not counting that this is sounding like we're gonna have a bad time, I gotta ask," Cinder piped up as they were strolling out, "what's that about the Xurkitree she saw being way taller than you, Raijin? Is that a cause for concern, like how giant Gourgeists and huge thrashing Gyaradoses are just way more troublesome, or are you just a freaking pipsqueak?"
The Xurkitree in question shrank up a bit, tapping his fingers together. "W-well, actually, I do still have some growing to do, but I am actually on the smaller side," Raijin answered. "I'm about two and a half meters right now, but my species is typically around three and a half to four. And no, running into a bigger one shouldn't be a problem in and of itself- their firepower should be pretty similar to mine."
Astrid couldn't help getting a surprised look. "So you're a little one," she said in disbelief.
"Comparatively, yes," her comrade replied.
She shook her head. "I-… Wow. Honestly, you aren't outright hulking and intimidating like someone like Dren is, but… 'little' is not a word I'd think to describe you with."
"To be fair, I'm also the only Xurkitree you've directly laid eyes on," Raijin noted.
"That's true," she acknowledged.
Cinder, though, let out a sardonic chuckle. "Well, damn, I guess that just gives me more room to torch the other ones that aren't friendly."
"That's one way of looking at it," Raijin didn't protest.
However, at that moment, another voice graced Astrid's senses when it called out, "Oi, lassie! Is that you, Astrid?!"
She perked up at hearing her name, and her comrades likewise did too, but a quick glance down the street revealed the source- a Nidoking looking straight at her with a grin almost too big for his face that she quickly recognized. He had a small satchel flung over his shoulders that didn't appear to be carrying much, and though his spiked, fanged form might've been frightening in many other contexts, it was easy enough to tell that he wasn't a threat at all.
Her feathers fluffed out in surprise and she gave a jump, but just as quick, she deflated and got a happy look herself. "Nez, is that you?!" she cried back.
"The very same, lassie!" was the answer.
All at once, she was turning into a hapless tangle of wings and feathers and feet as she darted over almost too fast for her body to keep up with her mind, and Nez happily laughed while reaching his arms down. She jumped into them and quickly was clutched up.
"It's been too long, lassie!" Nez exclaimed, nestling her under his chin. "Well, at least, in my opinion!"
"It has!" Astrid haplessly exclaimed back. "Oh, Arceus above, Nez, I'm so glad to see a familiar face from Tranquil Town…!"
"And I'm glad to see ye in the flesh, too! Ya haven't changed a bit, and I mean that in the best way!"
Cinder and Raijin, on the other hand, were feeling far more awkward than happy, the Fletchinder giving Nez an almost suspicious look and Raijin freezing up completely.
"Do you know this guy?" Cinder inquired. "Why the hell is she so happy to see him?"
"… I do, but…" Raijin's voice uncertainly trailed off. "A-ah… This is awkward…"
"Why?" Cinder pressed, giving the Xurkitree a suspicious look next. "What could possibly have happened? It's not like you went and ambushed him and blasted him to hell and back and then left him in the wilderness to die or something, right?"
"That's… actually not too far off."
The fiery avian stared. "… You're kidding, right?"
"No."
The Fletchinder clearly did not know what to make of such, for he shook his head and turned the other way. "I'm not gonna ask, and this clearly isn't my place," he said flatly, crouching down slightly and spreading his wings. "If we hear about a fight in the middle of town later, I guess we'll know what happened."
Before Raijin could protest, Cinder was flying off towards the base, leaving them all behind with a sudden breeze as he whizzed away.
"… You're a real piece of work, you know that, Cinder?" the Xurkitree remarked mostly to himself, watching the fiery avian dart off through the sky. Nonetheless, something else quickly caught the Beast's attention.
"H-hey, Raijin!" Astrid called from Nez's embrace. "Get over here! This is the sweetest Nidoking ever; you gotta meet him!"
Nez gave an amiable chuckle at being dubbed 'the sweetest Nidoking ever,' and after a twitch, Raijin came darting over too.
"So this is your Beastie friend?" Nez inquired, still grinning and holding onto the Dartrix.
"That's right," Astrid replied.
Raijin, on the other hand, was quickly blurting things out the moment he came close. "I am so sorry about last time! I know you're not bad, and I'm not normally like that, I swear! I would've attacked me too, I just-!"
The Xurkitree completely froze again when Nez gave him a big grin too and stuck one hand on one of his twitching arms. A hearty guffaw followed, the Nidoking evidently not bothered by anything in the world.
"Don't sweat it, laddie!" Nez replied. "We got a letter from Arashi explaining everything- how you're actually a nice Beastie, this nonsense with Void, and, well… the ordeal surroundin' this lassie here! Ya had to keep little Astrid a secret, and I was about to blow it! From the sounds of it, I oughtta be glad that she's got someone like you in her corner, bwahaha!"
At that, Raijin eased up, tapping his fingers together. "Ah… I'm glad…"
Another cry of 'Ah-!' left the Xurkitree when Nez yanked him in for an embrace too, ridiculous as it may have looked for several of Raijin's cables to be bunched up in the Nidoking's arms, but nonetheless, no one was protesting. Nez turned them loose shortly, though he did give Astrid a pat on the head as he set her back on the ground.
"S-say," the Dartrix piped up, "how are things over in Tranquil Town…? Is everyone okay after, well… you know…?"
"Oh, don't worry, lassie," Nez replied. "There were a few burnt feathers and some disorientation, but we're all in one piece. One of Kaminari's arms has a fairly nasty scar from taking a Flamethrower, but she's doing fine and it's not stoppin' her from lobbin' shurikens at troublemakers. Why, matter of fact, now that I'm thinkin' of it, both Niles and Kaminari were in my cottage at the time that Lucy delivered Arashi's letter, and all three of us just started to cry! I have never been so happy to see a letter in all my life, lassie!"
Astrid couldn't help but feel happy.
"Matter of fact, speaking of letters…" Nez's voice trailed off as he took his satchel off for a second and opened the flap. "Your little friends wrote you one, but long story short, shenanigans between Trixie and Charlie and Lila got the first one lobbed into the sea then inadvertently incinerated by Lila's Thunderbolt, then the second one they re-wrote got chomped on by a wild Deino. Ya know how those three are! I was runnin' some errands over in this area, and Lila figured that this third one had a much better chance of makin' it if someone outside of their little circle took it, bwahaha!"
Astrid blinked. "… Let me guess, Trixie started it."
"Oh, of course she did," was the easy, amused reply.
He took out an envelope from within his satchel that had clearly seen better days for one ripped corner and a prominent crease in the center, but nonetheless the names on the back of it were ones that Astrid easily recognized as belonging to a certain Jolteon, Aipom, and Croagunk. She took it up in her beak fairly quickly, then held it with one foot to study it as if she wasn't quite sure that it was real.
"Arceus above…" she said softly. "Sheesh, I miss them too…"
"And they miss ye and Arashi," the Nidoking replied softly, then getting a curious look, "Say, where is that laddie? Ye and him were practically inseparable!"
At that, Astrid whimpered with wide eyes and froze up, while Raijin twitched again and shrank up shyly. Nez was still smiling, but he studied them at their odd gestures.
"H-he… Er…" Astrid stammered.
"Oh, Necrozma give me strength…" Raijin said faintly, shuddering.
Nez too started getting an uncertain look. "Oh, what's got ya both so quiet all of a sudden? Did ye have a huge falling-out and ya don't want to talk about it?"
Astrid shook her head. "N-no, he…"
"… He's on Ultra Space," Raijin piped up. "Alone, at that. We…"
"… We got played," Astrid finished the thought. "There's an evolution spot in this area too, so Azure went out there and started kicking up a fuss just like Zariel did at Overgrown Crevice, and we thought it would be pretty easy to go out there and just have Raijin let loose on him, but…"
"… He First Impression'd us into a wormhole, and we couldn't grab Arashi in time."
The more they explained, the wider the Nidoking's eyes went. His mouth fell open a bit and he shook his head in stupor, but nonetheless, the Starstorm duo was slightly startled again for a moment when his arms clutched them in again. Astrid whimpered, eyes getting a bit misty, and Raijin seemed to go limp for just a second.
"Aye, that's troubling," Nez said, keeping his voice down. "Do ye know anything else…?"
"We're pretty sure he's alive, but that's really it," Astrid answered.
"Any way you look at it, it's not pretty what happens to dissenters out there…" Raijin's voice trailed off. "But I'll pry him out of Void's tentacles myself if it comes to that."
The Nidoking nodded. "He's one hardy little creature, that's for sure. I have faith in ya both."
Another whimper escaped Astrid's beak as he turned loose of them again. "Nez…" she sighed, shaking her head and looking at the ground. "This is gonna sound terrible, but… can you keep that between us? If Niles and Kaminari hear that from a third party, I just-… That would suck. I don't know how to tell them, but… W-well, they took me in, they kept me safe, and now their son is gone while I'm still here. They should hear it from me."
Another nod from the Nidoking followed, and he gave her another pat on the head. "Don't ya worry, lassie- I understand. You can trust Uncle Nez."
She whimpered a bit more, two little wet streaks falling from the edges of her eyes. She reached her wings out, and Nez returned the embrace.
"Thank you, Nez…" she said softly, hardly above a whisper. "C-can you tell them I'm really grateful…? I-I am to all of you, really… I would've been screwed by myself…"
"I'll tell them, lassie, don't ya worry," Nez assuaged her. "Don't ya worry."
He gave her a little squeeze, then set her down again, and the Dartrix brushed the droplets from her eyes with one wing.
"Say, what're the two of ye up to?" Nez inquired, giving them both a smile again. "Ya must be dealin' with some important stuff from the sound of it. I don't wanna keep ya too long if that's the case."
"W-well, we're actually planning an infiltration," Astrid answered. "We've got one of Raijin's bosses- Lunala- on this world helping us, and we just had our futures predicted by another Delphox that's actually a productive member of society and not Salem, so hopefully we can pull it off…"
The Nidoking looked them both over, amiable but solemnly understanding. "… Gods be with ye both, in that case," he said softly. "I know you've got it in ya."
The Starstorm duo nodded, and after Astrid gave Nez one last hug, they bade farewell and headed back off for the base while Nez tended to his own business. Raijin had the letter from the Tranquil Town youngsters stowed away in their bag, and Astrid had to resist the urge to tear it open right then and there. She could do it later, she figured, after they started laying down their plans for getting through to Void, which was far more important…
"He is a real sweetheart," Raijin remarked.
"He really is," Astrid replied. "Maybe not quite like Ama, but he's close."
"And your other friends sound… a lot more interesting than I'd suspected, to say the least."
"Oh, they are," Astrid brushed it off. "I'd love to go over there and see them again… but that's still probably a bad idea, and I definitely don't have the nerve to show my face around there without Arashi…"
The Xurkitree's tail wrapped around her for a second. "She might give us hell, but… we're gonna give Void hell too. I'll do whatever it takes."
She sighed. "… Me too, Raijin. Me too."