Adnea's study became something of a mess, and several quill pens telekinetically floated across a few blanks pages of one open book as well as a large gridded sheet pinned to one of the few portions of the wall not obscured behind a bookshelf. Astrid and Raijin wasted no time in jumping in on all the diagrams and plans being laid out once they returned, and between the Orbeetle herself, the Starstorm duo, and Lunala, the room was far more abuzz than usual.

The large sheet on the wall didn't stay blank for long, quickly getting covered in pen etchings that formed into a map- one that seemed perfectly ordinary by the standards of the Ultra Space inhabitants, but rather odd to Astrid and Adnea. A haphazard-looking shard marked by jutting rocks and aquatic-looking features was located in the middle, directly to the north of which was a desert, to the southwest a sprawling jungle, and to the southeast a sparking landscape covered in cable-like roots crawling over the ground. Astrid couldn't help thinking it looked like someone had taken some floating islands of wildly differing terrains and smashed them all together with the rocky one at the center… but according to Lunala, that was actually exactly why it looked the way it did, for the components had gravitated towards each other and intertwined their boundaries over time. A few little stars scrawled down indicated the empty space immediately outside of the gargantuan floating island- surely, falling off of it would be one way to have a terrible time reaching a separate location. In one corner was a key of sorts- an indication that one square of the grid was equivalent to one square kilometer on the ground.

"So we have Megalo Tower here approximately 2 kilometers from the jungle's northern boundary on the eastern side, and 3 kilometers from the desert's lowest boundary on the west," Adnea noted, marking down one point just off the edge of two intersecting gridlines, around which her pen began to trace out the outline of a tower. "… Give me details. How many guards and how are they arranged?"

"Last I saw, there were four Celesteelas in the air circling it," Lunala informed.

"… Fantastic," the Orbeetle said flatly, scrawling that out on a separate page. "How many Stakatakas on the ground?"

"There's always six outside, seven total if you count Knox," Raijin chimed in. "There are always two at the entrance and four split north, south, east, and west. Knox is probably wherever Void is."

Adnea scrawled that down too. "What about Remi?"

"Probably wherever Knox is," the Xurkitree answered.

More scrawling. "What about the vicinity?"

"There's the crater," Lunala said, another pen floating up and marking another point a square or two below Megalo Tower. "That's where a huge chunk of Void's underlings were located when I was still fused with Necrozma, and I'm willing to bet they haven't all been relocated to other worlds yet. It's not a safe place."

Adnea's pen quickly sketched out a large pit surrounded by wreckage around the point Lunala had indicated.

"There's also the dungeons," Raijin noted.

"Show me where," the Orbeetle replied.

It was the Xurkitree's turn to take up a pen and start making marks, making one approximately a third of the way between the outermost edge of the Ultra Plant segment and Ultra Deep Sea's boundary. "Well, there's one that starts here called Lightning Range for pretty obvious reasons, and it ends… here." He made another mark a little less than a square away from the rocky terrain's start. "Then there's Lush Ravine here-" he made another mark about halfway through the jungle shard, then a second slightly more than three squares from the Deep Sea edge to indicate the boundaries, "-and Sea of Dust here." Another set of marks followed, one a bit more than two-thirds through the desert shard and ending fairly close to the rocky shard's boundary. "They're all 23 floors. As far as items go, you can find seeds in Lush Ravine, but in Lightning Range and Sea of Dust, it's mostly the occasional orb, maybe a few Thunder Stones in the former if you know where to look."

Adnea scrawled that out too, and more etchings took form on the map indicating thick forests (of the leafy variety and the electric variety) and desert canyons. "What about the dungeon-dwellers?"

"There aren't any," Raijin replied.

At that, Astrid and Adnea both gave him a funny look.

"He's telling the truth," Lunala corroborated. "Void poisoned all of them too. The dungeons in her area are completely empty except for Megalo Tower, and that's because she purposely put those occupants there."

Adnea blinked. "… Well, I suppose that's reasonable for her aims," she said flatly. "So there's no concern for getting into a fight?"

"No, there is," the Xurkitree said to the contrary. "An empty dungeon would be a pretty good hiding place for someone trying to either get close to or get away from her, so there's a squad at both ends to take care of anyone that would try that. Basically, if you try running into one, you'll get intercepted, and if you win that fight, you'll be tired out by the time you reach the second squad."

The Orbeetle thought for a moment, one of her pens still scrawling away. "… Oh, that is a good setup," she noted, mostly to herself. "Would I be right in assuming that the ones native to the dungeon area wouldn't match up well against whatever squad is there? And a non-native species trying to run through would have to take precautions in most cases?"

"That's right," Raijin affirmed. "Ultra Jungle is the most hospitable, provided you don't try to jump into any volcanoes, so we at least have that to our advantage here. If I tried to run through the desert, I'd lose current eventually, and Astrid's seen how much a Discharge from me bothered a Buzzwole before, so one of them would have to move carefully in Ultra Plant. The same principle applies to most of the terrain."

Indeed, Astrid remembered how pained Fourteen-Five had seemed after getting hit by her comrade's bolts. She too thought about the setup- it was an efficient use of resources, to be sure. Void's underlings couldn't be as useful if they were stuck in one place all the time, so having two dedicated squads to take care of dissenters or troublemakers seemed like a good call in that regard. Having to wander through over twenty floors could definitely wear down anyone who tried it, especially if the terrain itself posed hazards even without any dungeon-dwellers present. For all the childlike gestures, broken sentences, and the appearance of frailty… this Nihilego was no fool.

"Tell me about the terrain," Adnea kept on, still scrawling away. One of her pens pointed at Ultra Plant. "I'm assuming you know this area fairly well, Raijin."

"That one in particular is my homeland," the Xurkitree answered, tapping his fingers together. "There's a perpetual thunderstorm in the sky, the soil is metallic and there's always a current running through it, and then you have the flora which look a lot like my limbs without the copper elements. Just keep in mind that, well… a plant can't really choose not to shock you if you go touching it. If someone weak to electricity, someone like Lazuli or Cinder, made a wrong step and brushed up against the wrong branch, it'd probably be really ugly."

"You know, our Flying-types, Celesteelas, can root themselves into the ground too, but they wouldn't dare do it in any Ultra Plant territory for that exact reason," Lunala added.

"To be fair, the soil in Ultra Crater isn't really the best for recharging either if you ask me," Raijin mused.

The scrawling continued. "That's good to know," Adnea said. "What about the desert? I'm guessing it's not very welcoming either."

"Oh, it's awful," Raijin said quickly, shuddering a bit. "I can't recharge there at all. Running on the sand is basically impossible for everyone but Pheromosas, so it sucks for species that can't fly or float, and the sand itself is fairly shiny, so if the light hits it the right way and you don't have a pair of Goggle, X-Ray, or Lock-On Specs, say goodbye to visibility. Mirages can form too, so it can look like the terrain is changing when it's really not. Absolutely nothing grows out there, so don't count on seeing any seeds or anything but sand and rocks."

"Don't forget the extreme temperatures either," Lunala added. "When it's light out, it's scorching hot, and when it's dark, it's painfully cold. Since Solgaleo is the one fused with Necrozma right now, if they're relatively close, bank on it being hot."

"And if it were you fused instead, it would be cold?" Adnea inquired.

"That's right," the lunar Beast affirmed. "He emits his light all over the place, and I keep mine gathered up."

"… Well, that sounds hazardous in its own right," the Orbeetle noted flatly, pen still scrawling. "What about the jungle? That's the most hospitable, no?"

"It's not so bad," Raijin replied. "The terrain is pretty similar to what we saw in Sunken Cavern, just a lot less drenched. There's around the same amount of lava streams as there are water streams, but I doubt any of us are dumb enough to go swimming in lava or go jumping into a volcano. In that jungle shard in particular, if you see seeds growing, they're probably Blast Seeds or Heal Seeds, so that can come in handy, at least."

Adnea appeared to be thinking for a moment. "… And we've probably already got the biggest threats in Void's territory pinned down. That area is comprised of glassy rock and little else, right?"

"Right," Raijin affirmed. "It's hard to recharge there too, but that's only a problem for me."

The Orbeetle nodded. "Right. And if we start incorporating what Delphi saw, then that puts Necrozma atop Megalo Tower, we likely know what group is guarding the entrance of Lush Ravine, and we can expect to see Zariel, assuming there's only one Charizard in Ultra Space. And if we see her, then we can likely expect to see Azure as well."

Astrid fluffed out a bit at the idea of seeing Zariel in a Mega form, but if she'd been beaten once before, surely, they could figure something out and do it again. After all, there were much bigger threats at play.

Lunala too apparently had some negative thoughts, for her eyes drooped and she looked at the ground while a sigh escaped her mouth. "I can't read them directly, but if Necrozma's fused with Solgaleo and they're both poisoned, then them being at the top of Megalo Tower must mean that they know I'd try to swoop in and release them from Void's hold. They wouldn't be up there unless they knew that trouble would come from the outside because there's no one in Ultra Space to attack them."

"So the odds aren't good that we can simply warp to the top," Adnea said flatly.

"Exactly," Lunala affirmed. "I can try once we get there, but if that doesn't work, then we need another plan."

Astrid's eyes narrowed and her head tilted to the side as she studied the map pinned to the wall. "U-um, this might be completely out of left field, but… if we all went as one big group, would we get caught quicker…? Like, even if we didn't warp straight to the tower, we would get noticed, right…?"

The other three studied her.

"… I see what you're getting at," Lunala said, her gaze falling on the Dartrix. "You're thinking that, if one of Void's squads came across a giant group of off-worlders, they would know we were up to no good, right?"

Astrid nodded. "But if we split up into smaller groups, it would be harder for us to get noticed, and if they did come across a smaller group of us, maybe they wouldn't know what to think straight away and they'd bring us straight into the tower…"

They exchanged glances.

"That's not a bad idea," Raijin concurred. "Especially if they figure out that we're not under her control. Of course, that'd mean having to prepare for a possible faceoff with Void and her underlings, but it's a good shot at getting close."

Astrid thought some more. "But that still leaves Necrozma as a huge problem," she mused. "They'd figure us out the fastest one way or another, right? So we'd still have to hide from them…"

"… I can manage that for a while," Lunala noted. "As in, hiding my presence and the ones of whoever else I'm with from their senses. Obviously, Necrozma is two-in-one right now, so they overpower me, but if we could get close enough without them noticing us, we'd have a much better chance."

"So we should have one group with Lunala that's keeping hidden and trying to stay as far out of trouble as possible," Adnea chimed in.

"And we should open our initial wormholes somewhere towards the edge," Raijin said, tracing the outer boundary of the etched island with one finger. "No one is out there to see us."

"And after those initial ones, I shouldn't open up any more unless we absolutely need them," said the starry Beast. "If I open too many, Necrozma will start to notice them and pick up that they're coming from me."

"So we'll just have to make sure that we're well-prepared so as not to need one in the first place," Adnea declared. "If all goes well, that shouldn't be an issue."

They all exchanged glances again, Lunala herself getting a grin.

"… This is coming along nicely," the Orbeetle piped up after a moment, sounding just a bit less flat. "But, if I may…"

Her eyes fell on Astrid, and the leafy avian instinctively fluffed out a bit under her piercing gaze. Nonetheless, it wasn't a threatening look, but still, Astrid had an idea of what she was getting at… and that made her fluff up even more.

"… Naturally, you being there poses a problem," Adnea said, flat and stoic again. "Not that all of us don't value you or want you at our sides, but it's a question worth asking whether that risk is worth it or not."

It was true. She was another human-turned-Pokémon capable of becoming Void's greatest weapon, and if Void herself touched her and subdued her too, it likely wouldn't be pretty… but still, she didn't want to be left behind, not after all the escapades she and her friends had experienced trying to break Void's empire apart piece by piece. That was her entire reason for being brought to this world, and if a human had caused things to spiral so far out of control in the first place, then naturally, another human should've been the one to fix it… She wanted to take charge of her fate and go give hell to Void, tell that sickly-sweet tyrant just how she felt about her.

Nonetheless, she perked up fairly quickly with a slightly perturbed look and bleated out, "W-what if I evolved? Th-then I'd have a stronger form with more abilities! B-besides, if all else fails and she does get ahold of me, I've got some sharp feathers- if I angled one just right and stabbed it through my eye-!"

"Oookay, let's not talk about death-by-eye-stabbing, shall we?!" Lunala cut her off, looking amused and concerned all the same. "We'll have her and Raijin both stick with me." She looked to the Xurkitree. "We can watch out for her, right~? No trouble there?"

"No trouble at all," Raijin was quick to reply before darting over to Astrid and curling one arm around her. "It'd feel strange any other way."

"And if you want to evolve, which would be useful either way, I know Raijin's told you about the surefire method that I can help you with," Lunala added, giving a nod to the Dartrix. "We can do that later, alright?"

Astrid nodded. "Th-thanks."

Adnea studied them for just a bit, but she seemed assuaged nonetheless. "… Well, that gives me an answer. You three have it covered."

Lunala chuckled. "Oh, of course we do.~"

"Well, I'm sure as hell glad y'all do," came a rather familiar voice.

A quick glance at the doorway revealed Rush, looking them over with a smirk.

"You're back!" Lunala cried happily.

"Damn straight," the Scrafty laughed. "To cut to the chase, we got Team Sweetheart, Team Mirage, Team Charade, and the Gnarly Brigade on our side. We ain't goin' alone."

Lunala started grinning and gave a happy cry, and even Adnea's stoic expression softened up for a second in what looked like relief. Astrid and Raijin were definitely glad to hear the news too, but the former only indicated such by the tiny way her beak curled up at the edges, and Raijin twitched slightly in what was easily deduced as happiness.

They stayed up in the study for a while longer, mapping out possible routes of entry and the most likely opposition they'd find for each given territory (for which Adnea did pages upon pages of calculations to come up with a reasonable range of probability to see each Beast species according to Raijin and Lunala's information). Just to be safe, they mapped out the surrounding floating shards as well just in case fleeing to one became necessary, which was mostly Adnea's idea. Astrid couldn't help thinking that they had quite an extensive map drawn up for just a single floating island in the middle of the vast nebulas, but she definitely wasn't going to protest it. If this was the heart of enemy territory, and they were heading straight into it, then they couldn't possibly be too cautious.

Time seemed to fly while they were planning, and once Rozen chimed in that dinner was ready, a quick glance outside revealed that it was already growing dusky. Of course, Lunala was perfectly fine so long as she had a light source, but nonetheless, she too ended up trying Rozen's cooking… and raving about how it was the best thing she'd ever tasted in all of the vast spread of the galaxies she'd been on. It was quite amusing, watching an ethereal goddess thrown into a happy frenzy over fried unripe Tamato berries, and if there was ever a time that Raijin lamented being unable to partake, that was it. Having the starry Beast around was definitely pleasant, but Astrid had to note that, between Lunala and Dren's giant winged figures, the rest of them looked even more dwarfed in comparison. Still, that only meant that things were… cozier. And the Dartrix didn't mind such at all.

It certainly felt cozy in the basement too once things were darker outside, with Lunala's wings practically stretching from wall to wall. Astrid preened a bit on her perch and Raijin was plugged into the ground, little rainbows from the crystal shards refracted along the floor from his glow. Between the little prisms, her comrade's glow, and Lunala's starscape, it was easy to feel relaxed for the mystical-looking surroundings, but still, Astrid knew that things were far quieter than usual with the one figure, thar of her partner, that was still missing. The letter from the Tranquil Town youngsters sat on their shelf next to the bag, but Astrid definitely had mind to tear into it shortly with their planning halted for the night.

"Oooh, so this is where you've been staying!" the starry Beast cooed, looking around. "Heh, Astrid, this must be right up your alley!"

"It is," the Dartrix softly affirmed, straightening one feather out. "It's cozy."

"We're not too far away from the rest of the team, but it's still our own little space," Raijin chimed in. "I like it down here too."

Lunala chuckled. "Well, you two have certainly carved out little niches for yourselves. I'm glad."

She sounded glad, but at the same time, Astrid couldn't help but notice that the lunar Beast's eyes twitched for a second and her gaze shifted around rapidly as if she wasn't sure about something. For just a moment, Lunala almost looked disturbed, but perhaps that was just par. The happy tone in her voice seemed like the more prominent cue to pick up on in any case.

"So you're actually gonna go use the wormholes to evolve?" Raijin inquired, looking to the Dartrix next.

Astrid nodded. "Yeah. If it's as bad as you say, then it's gonna suck, but… it makes the most logical sense."

Both Beasts looked at each other.

"She's brave, isn't she?" Lunala laughed.

"She is," Raijin concurred without missing a beat. "It's not very hard to see why Necrozma picked her, all things considered."

Astrid blushed a bit under her feathers. "A-ah… You guys…"

"Well, there was a reason we sent someone like her," Lunala chuckled. She perked up in what looked like excitement moments afterwards, her gaze falling back on the leafy avian. "And speaking of which! You know, Astrid, you and I need to have a talk. You got a minute?"

Astrid too perked up a bit at the sudden inquisition, but nonetheless nodded. "S-sure."

Raijin too perked up, unplugging from the ground and tapping his fingers together. "Is something wrong? You sound… kind of frantic, Lunala."

The starry-winged one laughed, one of her bony hands giving the Xurkitree a pat. "Oh, nothing to worry about, Raijin! Unless you've got a special past life too, but I think I'd know something like that!"

He nodded. "R-right. That's definitely not me."

Another chuckle came from Lunala, and she gave Raijin a friendly tap on the side of his head before she looked back to Astrid. "C'mon, nobody's on the rooftop right now- let's go there!"

Astrid nodded, and much to her surprise, a wormhole opened in the middle of the room.

"Don't worry, it's not for evolving… yet!" Lunala said as she glided straight in.

Astrid blinked. "You know, I don't want to say that having someone casually rip holes in space is weird because apparently this is common for you two, but… Arceus above!"

She too jumped in, Raijin giving her a facetious wave goodbye as it closed. She still couldn't help but to feel freshly energized once she landed on the other side, but based on what her comrade had said before, that was to be expected.

Indeed, the rooftop was empty, Dren having retreated inside for the evening from his usual lookout, and it was fairly tranquil with the muffled buzz of voices further away and the soft dusky breeze. Astrid hopped on the edge of the roof, brushing a few feathers out of her face while she overlooked the town, and Lunala simply floated close behind her, looking somewhat like a section of the sky above had gone much darker before the rest.

"What's up?" Astrid inquired softly. "M-maybe I'm just reading into things too much, but Raijin was right- you did seem a little frantic about something after we stopped drafting our plans with Adnea."

Lunala sighed. "Well, you and Raijin just seem… really happy here," she mused. "And I didn't expect our emissary to get so attached to you and Arashi, either. It's one thing occasionally watching from afar, but now that I'm all up close and personal, it's… still fairly surprising."

Astrid nestled down just a bit on the edge. "Well, I'd be a lot happier if I still had Arashi with me, but you're right, before everything went to hell, I was pretty happy when me, Arashi, and Raijin were just hanging out together… And I'm still pretty content with just me and Raijin too, if you take out the obvious things for us to worry about… It's nice here."

Lunala's eyes drooped, and a very flustered smile crossed her face. "Yeah, about that…~"

The Dartrix looked up at her. "Is something wrong…?"

The lunar Beast looked down at her with a haplessly pitying expression. "… You know you can't stay here, right?"

It was an innocuous enough question, even reasonable on the surface- perhaps returning to Tranquil Town and taking it easy for a while was the best idea, but nonetheless, Astrid studied Lunala for a second. She wasn't quite sure what the ethereal Beast was referencing. "… I… What…?"

"You can't stay here," Lunala repeated, looking her straight in the eyes. "You're not from here."

She blinked some more. She wasn't from the Crossroads, but quite a few members of the Coalition, her missing partner and her Xurkitree comrade included, weren't either, so that couldn't have been the issue if Lunala was only talking to her. Raijin and Lunala weren't 'from here' either, so surely… "Well, no, obviously I'm not, but… You're going back to Ultra Space once this is done, right? And that's where Raijin's homeland is, so I can't see him staying here all the time, either… Do you mean I should go to Ultra Space too…?"

"… No," Lunala replied, shaking her head. "You aren't from there, either."

More blinking. Her eyes started to go a little wider. "Lunala… What're you getting at…?"

"Your own homeworld, Astrid. Your own homeworld."

Wider still. Her feathers fluffed out. "W-what…? But, that would mean-…"

Her beak dropped open, and she stared at the winged Beast for a moment before jumping up from her nestled position and backing away from the rooftop's edge with her eyes still locked on her otherworldly company. Lunala's words could have several possibilities, but only one seemed probable- she'd have to turn back into a human, and if she turned back into a human, that meant going back to her uneventful human life with no meaning… That meant leaving her friends behind… That meant no more Team Starstorm, no exploring the nebulas with the creatures she loved the most at her side, nothing…

"Look, I know it's hard to swallow, but you've gotta understand where we're coming from," Lunala said, turning towards her again with a pitying look on her face.

Astrid, however, wasn't nearly as tranquil. "No!" she shot back, horror and disgust all at once clouding her expression. Her words that followed sounded about as venomous as Void's touch. "You clearly understand where I'm coming from- literally where I'm coming from and figuratively speaking too! What the hell are you on about?!"

Lunala's bony fingers curled up for just a second and her wings folded up slightly as if guarding herself from an actual attack instead of just an angry Dartrix's distressed hissing. "Look, Astrid- this world isn't even our jurisdiction to start with! You think the gods of this world would be very happy if we just dumped the products of our own issues in their jurisdiction?"

She may have had a point, but Astrid wasn't relenting. "Then why can't I stay in Ultra Space if that's the issue?!" she demanded. "That is your jurisdiction!"

"Because your homeworld also wasn't a place that was in our jurisdiction!" Lunala quickly responded. "And not only that, but even as uneventful of a life that you had, there were still other humans that cared about you there, and they have absolutely no answers about what happened to you! That's not fair, is it?"

Astrid paused for a second, but nonetheless replied icily and with narrowing eyes, "Frankly, that's a problem I didn't create. As far as I'm concerned, my human self doesn't matter."

"You're right, Necrozma created that problem," the ethereal Beast replied, nonetheless rather firm in her delivery. "But that doesn't change the effect. You can't stay here, Astrid."

The Dartrix growled, backing away some more as if merely breathing the same air as Lunala was a painful punishment. "… Then why the hell didn't Necrozma tell me earlier? That's a pretty damn important detail to leave out, don't you think…?!"

"If we'd told you then, there's no way you would've lasted this long," Lunala answered. "If you knew this was temporary, you wouldn't have taken it nearly as seriously."

Narrower went her eyes before she said in a voice that was quiet as a Rattata's footsteps but sharp as a Kartana's blades, "… So you just wait until I'm too far in to back out, and then you drop something like that on me?! And what about Salem, huh? You didn't tell her, did you?"

It was Lunala's turn to get narrowed eyes, her mouth opening for just a second as if she wanted to lash out but restrained herself. "… No. I know where you're going with this, Astrid, and that's a low blow."

"… But it's true," the Dartrix said icily. "Maybe if she had known, you wouldn't have lost her to Void. She wouldn't have put herself on the line like that in the first place for a set of gods that don't give a damn about the ones helping them!"

At that, Lunala evidently couldn't hold it back anymore. "You think this is easy?!" she shot back, her expression going angry. "You're a thinker, Astrid, so you think about that for a second! If you were in our position, with all of the creatures in your world getting subjugated by an egocentric tyrant that wants to mold every universe she can touch into her own likeness, wouldn't you do the same?! Even if it was Raijin alone that we had, you really think he could've avoided Void the entire time with that mark on his arm giving him away so easily?! Not a chance! So when your only options left are from another world, you do what you have to do! You know how it is- the many outweigh the few, and it's not fair that you're the few here, but life isn't fair either! This entire situation isn't fair for any of us! So I'm sorry, but if given the choice of sacrificing your happiness or everyone else's, I'll pick you every single time!"

Astrid paused, going wide-eyed again for just a second. That was reasonable, she had to admit, but nonetheless, within moments, she was on the offensive again. "Then why are you telling me about this?!" Astrid shouted back, throwing her wings out and puffing up in frustration. "Obviously you knew it would be an issue, so why create the issue now, after I've gone and spilled my guts to my comrades over and over again and gotten attached to them?! Why couldn't you just whisk me away after it's all said and done?! Hell, why not just erase my memories of this life?!"

Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, Astrid got wide-eyed again and stared at the surface beneath her feet. She deflated like a popped balloon. She didn't want that, either- she didn't want to forget…

Lunala gave her a rather pointed look, knowing exactly what ran through her mind. "… Think you're going a little too far with that one, Astrid?"

"T-too far…" the Dartrix choked out softly.

"Well, you can figure it out easily," Lunala said firmly. "I'm telling you now because I respect your autonomy and wanted to give you a say. This way, you at least get to pick how you say goodbye instead of just vanishing with no forewarning. You can deal with it on your own terms."

Astrid thought about it. That was true- if she was going to vanish, it was best if it was on her own terms, but still, she couldn't believe how underhanded the whole thing was. Salem was a pawn, sure, but the Dartrix herself couldn't help feeling like a pawn too. After all the talk of what she and her comrades would do once the fight with Void was over, provided they did win it… It was all for nothing. She wouldn't even be around to frolic through the world she'd helped to save. She wouldn't be there to mess around with the youngsters in Tranquil Town, she wouldn't be able to go on ridiculous expeditions with Arashi anymore, she wouldn't be able to watch the storms with Raijin, she wouldn't be part of Team Starstorm anymore…

Her eyes started to get misty, but just as quick, she blinked the tears away and looked up at Lunala with a sardonically amused and distressed look. "You're lying," she declared. "You are lying. Raijin is your emissary- he would've told me! I'll believe it when I hear it from him!"

"That's the one thing we didn't tell him," Lunala replied. "You can ask if you want, but he won't know what you're talking about."

Astrid shook her head, chuckling with terrified but amused eyes. "… No," she said in disbelief. "If you'd deceive your own emissary like that, then that's an entirely new level of messed up."

"Denial won't stop it from happening."

Astrid blinked, staring at the lunar Beast in utter silence with eyes shifting between cynical amusement and despair. Lunala stared at her too, her own eyes drooping. At any second, Astrid was expecting the starry-winged one to say it was all a terrible attempt at a joke, but that moment just didn't come. Nonetheless, Astrid started making sounds again, a pathetic and frenzied mix between laughter and agonized sobbing. The way her beak curled up at the edges would've insinuated happiness, but her eyes showed clear, horrified sorrow.

"… This is insane," the Dartrix choked out. "This is insane! H-how…!"

The sound that left her beak next was a shriek of dismay as she flapped her wings and quickly left Lunala behind on the roof, darting down to the base's front entrance and sailing through the curtain door so fast that it made a clear whooshing sound like a strong breeze was threatening to rip it off. She practically tumbled down the stairs to the basement again, where her comrade still was, docile as could be. She fell in a heap at the bottom step, and Raijin unplugged from the ground again, scurrying over to her.

"Hey," he said, sticking one hand on her wing and kneeling down. "Are you okay? You look really flustered."

She didn't even bother picking herself up from the ground straight away. "The Light Trio wouldn't turn me back into a human and send me back to my homeworld once we beat Void, would they?" she practically vomited the words out. "They wouldn't just use me as a pawn to beat Void, right?"

The Xurkitree twitched. "W-what?" he asked in confusion. "Who told you that?"

"Not a damn soul," the Dartrix flatly replied. It technically wasn't a lie- she hadn't been apprised of such in any timeframe that anyone would consider reasonable.

Raijin tilted his head to the side. "… They would've told me about something like that," he mused. "I mean, that's… awfully underhanded. If you had no direction as a human, why would they send you back to that life? I mean, they never told me directly, but I've always assumed you'd just stay here… There's not much reason for you to leave, after all, at least, not that I can think of…"

"... You wouldn't lie to me, would you?"

Another twitch followed. "And why would I lie to you?" her comrade asked, rather puzzled. "I mean, I think I've been pretty open about that- I'll tell you anything."

"… You swear?"

Raijin studied her for a second. "Astrid… What's this about…? You don't wanna go home, do you…? L-look, this is really stressful and all, but… We were talking about running around the galaxy and having fun together once this is all said and done, and…"

"No," she replied, still sprawled on the ground like a feathery splat that just couldn't be bothered to move. "I don't wanna go home. It was just… me being paranoid."

"Good," the Xurkitree said, one arm curling around her and picking her up in a hug. "You had me worried there for a second. I'd miss you… a lot…"

She blinked a few times, going slightly limp in uncertainty. She couldn't fess up the real reason, not after the bond she'd formed… Not saying anything would be cruel, but dropping something like that on her comrade before the infiltration, knowing how badly it would mess with him… That would be even more cruel. She couldn't say it, not when her comrade was hugging her and saying he'd miss her…

"… I'd miss you too, Raijin. You… You're a good friend, y'know that…?"

"You are too."

He gave her a little squeeze, then set her back down again. She scurried and jumped onto her perch, nestling down and trying to sink into her feathers. She felt sick and weak, like she might shrivel up and die like a flower left in the desert sun for too long. Her eyes fell on the letter from Tranquil Town, still sitting on the shelf… but that would have to wait. She didn't have it in her to open it- she'd probably burst into tears the moment she laid eyes on what was inside and become an inconsolable wreck, which would only beg more questions about why she'd react that way. She didn't even want to think about what she'd tell Arashi if he were there- it would utterly crush him and she didn't have the heart to do it.

It was all terrible. Absolutely terrible.