She might've been quick at it, but nocking and firing an arrow faster than lightning could flash was something Astrid knew she definitely could not pull off. The arrow stayed clutched in her hand, but the Decidueye leaped backwards again and phased through another tree in an effort to put at least some barrier between herself and her comrade's Discharge. She resisted electricity with her new form's typing… but she definitely knew better than to rely on that against Raijin's ridiculous firepower. A few feathers fluffed out at the proximity of the bolts, but she nonetheless avoided the onslaught of sparks even if narrowly, then nocked her arrow as quick as she could while just barely peering out from behind the tree trunk. Of course, her comrade was no fool- he was already darting to a different position to keep from getting hit by it, but still… She anticipated that too, and let the arrow fly at where his shadow would be just mere moments later…

… Then let out a cry of dismay as he was cloaked in a Dazzling Gleam that shifted his shadow away from her, and she couldn't Spirit Shackle anything. Matter of fact, she was shrinking up as much as she could while edging slightly to the side to avoid taking her comrade's attack, and the tree trunk that she pressed herself against had burn marks on every other angle. Her wings got grazed ever-so-slightly, and thankfully, her skin didn't get burned by the blinding energy too, but a patch of feathers on either side was left singed. Some of the greenery past her may as well have had their leaves incinerated, thus she certainly didn't want to find out what Raijin's attacks would do to her own leaves.

"… Yep, definitely gonna regret this," Astrid muttered to herself, her eyes narrowing.

Still, she whirled around while her comrade was firing up another Dazzling Gleam and rushed at him with one wing out to her side, phasing back through the tree. Her wing became cloaked in a steely glow, and while she could still feel her comrade's attack, it made a sufficient shield to keep her from taking the brunt of the damage. It wouldn't be very effective, but she nonetheless smashed her wing into her comrade's head as hard as she could.

"Agh-!" Raijin cried.

He stumbled a bit, slightly dazed from the hit, though the sparks that quickly shot up and down his form as soon as she made contact made Astrid withdraw her wing as fast as she could. Still, a brief moment of discombobulation was all she needed, and a spectral arrow stabbed into his shadow. A cry of discomfort and a twitch followed from her attack, but apparently, that wasn't dissuading the Beast too much for the Discharge that followed. Astrid couldn't avoid it in time.

"Oh, gods-" the Decidueye croaked.

She quickly found herself on the receiving end of a wild storm of bolts that, even if she resisted them, did not feel pleasant. Her feathers fluffed out and her eyes went huge, her body not listening for a few seconds as if her nerve endings had been overloaded for the second time since she'd decided to evolve. She hung on, but she was definitely feeling much weaker than she had moments prior.

"Forgive me!" Raijin said quickly.

Oh, she'd forgive him, alright, but that wasn't going to keep her from unloading every move and maneuver she possibly could on him… or at least, she would have, if her body would listen. Some residual sparks still danced around her form, indicating paralysis about as well as the way she found movement to be near-impossible. Her comrade took notice about as fast and wasn't wasting the opportunity, for a Signal Beam quickly formed between his hands aimed straight at her.

"NO-!" she fussed, or at least tried to.

Try as she might to hold up her wings or even phase into the ground, she could only stare in fright as it smashed right into her, and very shortly, the paralysis alone wasn't the cause of her immobile state. Whatever energy she had was quickly leaving, and she slumped on the ground in a heap of leaves and feathers with wide, twitching eyes. Her vision was blurring over, but as much as her eyelids wanted to drift closed, she forced them to stay open, which seemed like an absurd feat for how weak she was feeling. Even if by a tiny thread, she held onto her consciousness, but it was already fairly clear to her who had won the first round. Had she been left to her own devices, she very easily would've laid on the forest floor, unmoving and probably drifting off into deep unconsciousness, for several hours.

"Astrid…?" Raijin asked, studying her while trapped in place. "Oh, heavens, I know you literally asked for it, but please tell me you're alright…"

A faint coughing sound came from the Decidueye. "Jeez…" she choked out, barely audible.

"Ah-! You're still awake…?"

She tried to move just a bit, but that too was a laborious process, and little more than a faint but pained groaning sound escaped her beak.

"Hey, do you think you can let these stitches on my shadow up…?" Raijin asked. "I know if I was really hostile, I'd zap you again, but I think it'd be better if I went and got you a berry…"

She didn't make a sound, but the spectral stitches holding the Xurkitree in place diffused like fog, and Raijin darted over to the bag. He was definitely in better condition than Astrid, but he did seem to be less swift after getting bashed upside the head and Spirit Shackled. Nonetheless, he quickly retrieved an Oran berry and was promptly nudging Astrid's beak open with one hand while shoving the berry inside with the other. She didn't need too much help biting a chunk out of it, and almost as soon as she did, she was stirring again.

"… Thanks," she said, picking herself up off the ground and taking the berry in one hand. "I knew you were strong, but… wow."

Raijin gave the leafy avian a quick pat on one shoulder. "I noticed you keeping mostly defensive. Your ghost attributes seem to be coming in handy for that."

"Yeah," she replied, ripping another chunk out of the berry. "I was banking on each of your attacks having the potential to knock me out. Obviously that's not really something I can afford if I get into a fight in Ultra Space."

"I was trying to avoid your arrows too," her comrade noted. "I mean, yeah, that Dazzling Gleam was an attack, but I figured that was also my safest bet to keep from getting locked down. Knowing you, you might've tried to carve some visible eyes into my head or something if I did get locked down."

Astrid got an amused look. "Hey, maybe I'd try to shoot them out, but that'd require me knowing where they are first, and I frankly have no idea."

Raijin twitched, pointing an accusatory but playful finger at her. "And I'm definitely not gonna tell you now!"

She chuckled, shaking her head as she scarfed down the last bit of the berry. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna go maiming a friend, especially not one I still need for when I go traipsing into enemy territory under the control of a tyrant that really wants me to stop resisting her."

"I didn't think you would," the Xurkitree haplessly replied, playfully nudging one of her wings.

"Hey, I still hit you though, so maybe you should recharge a little and get your energy back," Astrid suggested.

"Oh, good heavens, you shouldn't be worrying about my well-being right now," her comrade remarked, nonetheless doing exactly as she said.

She was, though- if she was going to pull off a win against the Beast next to her, she didn't want it to be because he hadn't healed from his hits like she herself had. If they got to Ultra Space and every squad that could possibly intercept them was conveniently down on their health, then Astrid would enjoy the relief that came from having the advantage, but as it was, she knew the odds of that were basically zero. She definitely wasn't going to practice like the odds were in favor, because they clearly weren't.

Raijin took a minute or two to get back to full health, and Astrid messed around with phasing in and out of her surroundings in the interim. It'd likely become a natural sensation sooner or later, but the feeling of being in a spectral state while standing inside of a solid object was definitely something she had no reference point for. Her comrade studied her just a little bit while she did it, which she could tell easily enough wasn't because he thought it a strange sight too- there were other ghostly species in Ultra Space, after all. No, it was simply to see her methods and mannerisms for doing it… probably mostly because she'd be making use of it for the rest of their time fighting at each other's sides, but perhaps also because she was going to use it against him quite soon.

When Raijin unplugged, Astrid glanced over and asked, "You ready?"

He nodded. "Yeah, are you?"

She too gave a nod. "Let's go."

Yet again and very quickly, the air seemed to buzz with the Xurkitree's crackling electricity, and Astrid drew her arrow as fast as she could manage. She couldn't possibly hope to avoid the Discharge that followed in every direction she could run in, but she did manage to fire off a Spirit Shackle just before she got zapped by a deluge of bolts that would've thrown her aim off had they hit a second sooner. Her comrade twitched in pain, locked down almost certainly far sooner than he would've hoped for.

"Oh, that's nice," Raijin remarked flatly.

It was to Astrid, at least, but the Decidueye still wasn't going to lose her caution. If he couldn't move… he'd just have to aim in every single direction to make dodging impossible, and she didn't want to be caught by such. Her body phased into the ground, and a burst of a Dazzling Gleam sailed overhead as she vanished.

"Well, you definitely know when to dodge," her comrade noted to no one in particular.

Astrid couldn't see much of anything under the ground, but she could still feel Raijin's energy pulsing above in what was probably another Discharge that he hoped to catch her with once she reemerged. Nonetheless, she darted over to his vicinity, pulling another arrow from one wing while she waited for the buzzing above to cease, and the moment it did, the feathered ghost shot back up from the ground behind the Beast. However, Raijin was clearly anticipating such too, for she found herself staring straight into the beginnings of a Signal Beam held between his hands. No matter, she swerved aside as he fired it off, and she too let her own attack fly. A few of her feathers were singed from the very narrow avoidance, but a cry of pain and another twitch came from her comrade as her spectral arrow pierced into one of his arms. She wanted to feel a little confident for a second, but the next moment, she was phasing out again when a blinding Dazzling Gleam burst out from her comrade.

"Thaaaat's right, don't make me blast my friend into oblivion…" Raijin's voice tiredly trailed off, sparks nonetheless shooting up and down his form as he glanced around for where she was.

She could've made her reappearance behind him again, or maybe behind some tree cover with an arrow drawn, but no, her comrade would've seen that coming. From what Astrid felt above, she wouldn't emerge to a barrage of unavoidable lightning strikes, thus she jumped out right in front of Raijin with an arrow grasped in one hand. However, rather than setting off an attack straight away, he reached out with his uninjured arm and wrapped it around her, surprising her for a second with such a maneuver. She didn't know what he was up to, but she didn't particularly want to find out, and rather than shooting her arrow, she instead jabbed it into the cables touching her. At about the same time, though, she quickly figured out what kind of move her comrade was making- it was a Discharge, alright, but not one where the bolts had to spread out to hit a moving target or several targets at once… No, every single one followed a singular path, straight into the Decidueye's form…

A mighty shriek of pain followed as her nerves were again overloaded with the currents. "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

It didn't take long at all before her eyes rolled back in her head and she went limp, her feathers standing on end and a rather prominent mark burnt through her feathers and into her skin where Raijin's hand had been. The sparks died down, but Raijin still didn't let go of her, instead gently taking her in both hands and setting her down softly on the ground. The stitches on his shadow dissipated rather soon too, and he darted back over to the bag to grab a Reviver Seed that was already glowing with a golden hue.

"A-ah, forgive me…!" the Xurkitree softly mused, holding the seed over her.

The fainted Decidueye definitely welcomed the healing glow of the seed, and her eyes fluttered open once again though it took her a second to stir. The burn mark in her skin healed over too, but the feathers burnt off by the Xurkitree's contact remained in the same state and still gave a pretty clear indication of her having taken a direct Discharge.

"… Sheesh," Astrid said softly, staring off into the distance. "You really let me have it there, didn't you…?"

Her comrade shyly tapped his fingers together. "W-well, I knew you probably wouldn't expect that, since I don't really make physical contact while attacking…"

She couldn't help but to chuckle as she picked herself up off the ground. "You played me," she remarked.

"Y-you're okay, right…? I know that really hurt…"

"Yeah, I'm fine," the Decidueye replied, straightening out a few feathers. "I'd rather figure out how miserable those kinds of attacks can be now and from you as opposed to someone else in Ultra Space that actually wants to do me in. Seriously, Raijin- keep on messing me up. Sooner or later, I'll be able to take it."

He nodded, gingerly grasping one arrow stuck into his cables. "You came fairly close to winning that one, though," he said, plucking the arrow out with a little spurt of sparks coming from the wound. "One more hit and I probably would've been down. That new attack you've got is… really unpleasant."

She eyed him a bit. "Really? What's it like…?"

"Feels like I'm getting jabbed with a bunch of needles," the Xurkitree answered, plucking the other arrow out too with a little pained twitch. "Whether you hit my shadow or not. It's only one arrow, but I feel like a pincushion getting poked full of holes."

Astrid blinked. "… Sheesh, sorry my first target for it has to be you."

"Hey, it's only fair- I blast you and make you feel like you're dead, you shoot me and make me feel like some unholy spirit is in the process of killing me," Raijin mused, plugging into the ground to heal himself too. "It's not so one-sided that way."

She didn't disagree with what her comrade was expressing. Still, she couldn't help but to notice that, while he was charging up again, the arrow stabs appeared to be sparking even if the rest of him wasn't, and she asked, "Those last two didn't hurt you too bad, did they…? I mean, you don't bleed, but it looks like you're leaking sparks and that's gotta hurt either way…"

"Don't worry about it," Raijin gently replied. "Yeah, it hurts, but it's not like it's impossible to block out, and I'm not losing enough current to be concerned about it right now. In other words, don't worry about winning against me being any easier, at least right now."

Astrid nodded. "Good."

… And if it was anything, 'easy' was far from the word to describe it. Taking the Xurkitree's attacks was still nothing short of brutal, but the more hits she rolled with, the more Astrid felt like she could brush them off and keep going without an exhausting struggle. Of course, all the while, she was getting swifter with her arrows and more keen on her ghostly attributes, which made hitting her in the first place more difficult for Raijin. Nonetheless, if friends were supposed to give each other everything they had, even in the abnormal context of a duel… the two of them were doing exactly that. The forest stirred with spectral energy, crackling lightning, and plenty of other attacks in between for quite some time until the sky started to grow dusk.


And when the sky did grow dusky, Astrid's spectral strings and Raijin's attacks made their surroundings flash and glow in ways that would've been at least somewhat enchanting had the two of them not been trying to knock each other out. It definitely wasn't anything that an outsider would want to get close to, and the wild ones were still keeping plenty of distance. There was hardly a surface that didn't bear singe marks or arrow pierces, and the area had definitely been looking much more robust several hours earlier. All three Oran berries were used up and two of the three Reviver Seeds had been turned into their much plainer counterparts… every single one used up on account of Astrid, close as she may have come to snagging a win a few times.

She didn't want the last seed to get used up by her, too. Astrid nocked an arrow, but her comrade knew well enough what she was about to do and fired off a Signal Beam to disrupt its flight. It certainly wouldn't be hitting his shadow from the way the beam's light made it shift, but the arrow wouldn't be hitting the Xurkitree either when it was intercepted and fried by his attack. Astrid swerved aside to let Raijin's attack fly past her head and demolish some other poor set of greenery someplace behind her, shaking some razor-sharp leaves loose from one wing as she did so. Very quickly, she was phasing into the ground as a Discharge fried her leaves too.

"I should be happy that you're avoiding me, but tactically speaking, that characteristic is so annoying to deal with," Raijin remarked, standing guard and watching his surroundings.

"Good!" Astrid cried, bursting up from the ground again beside him with an arrow ready to go again.

She would've landed a hit and locked him down, but a Dazzling Gleam's energy threw her own attack off-course and made her hold up a Steel Wing to block it out at such close range. With her other hand, she retrieved another arrow, then phased back into the ground for just a second or two before jumping back out behind her comrade. Raijin could tell easily enough what she was planning to do and whirled around, and when she jabbed the arrow into him, she too was on the receiving end of a Discharge.

"Ngh-!" Astrid cried.

"Ah-!" Raijin protested.

It was unpleasant, to be sure, but Astrid stayed standing with narrowed eyes and Raijin brushed off the spectral pain as best he could. The Decidueye phased into the ground again when the sparks faded in favor of a Dazzling Gleam aimed in every direction, but Astrid was keeping her distance and reemerged around ten meters back from her comrade with another arrow drawn. Still, Raijin wasn't going to let her hit him so easily and set off another Discharge that could at least disrupt her rather easily, but yet again, the two of them were taking each other's attacks at the same time. The Xurkitree twitched and let out another cry of pain, while Astrid gritted her beak together in an attempt to stifle a hiss of discomfort. She resisted electricity, but another blow from her comrade was sure to do her in if she couldn't avoid it in time. Raijin drooped slightly, indicating that he too was feeling tired.

Still, Astrid had to move rather quickly again when she found herself staring down a Signal Beam, and while she avoided it, her comrade definitely wasn't keen on letting up even while locked in place for the way his body was cloaked in a storm of sparks shortly thereafter. Astrid took the defensive again, phasing through a tree trunk in an effort to put a barrier between her and the Xurkitree's attack. Of course, staying put and letting off Discharge after Discharge to eventually catch her was a valid strategy, but she was determined not to let that work so easily either. She took aim with her arrow, carefully peeking out from the tree, but she had to duck back and press herself up against the trunk to avoid taking a bolt before she could get an opportunity to fire.

"And tactically speaking, that's annoying too," Astrid remarked to herself, eyes narrowed. "Thank the gods you're on my side…"

Nonetheless, Raijin could easily anticipate what she was planning to do, and her spectral arrow flew off somewhere into the greenery instead of jabbing into him when he slouched down to avoid it. Astrid phased back into the ground while grabbing another one from her wings, but she hesitated to reemerge for the energy she felt emanating from above. She had to be careful- she could outmaneuver her comrade fairly easily, but taking his hits was definitely something she couldn't keep doing and hope to win.

The moment she felt things die down, she jumped out with her arrow nocked, but Raijin was still putting up a fight from the way a Dazzling Gleam made her eyes twitch as she took aim. The Xurkitree was already trying to shift his limbs out of the way as best he could while being stuck in one place, but Astrid made a quick adjustment while dropping herself on the ground and aimed her spectral feather at his shadow instead. She let her Spirit Shackle go as she slumped into a feathered pile on the ground, the pulses of fairy energy sailing by overhead, and her comrade simply couldn't catch on in time.

"No-!" Raijin exclaimed in dismay.

Nonetheless, he twitched in pain, then went limp. His glow flickered for a second before going out, and even when it did, Astrid still stayed tense as she pressed herself against the forest floor. She didn't phase down into the earth, but she was definitely ready to if by some chance her comrade started to move again… but judging by his dimmed state, he wouldn't be doing such for at least a little while.

"Raijin…?" she asked, half in curiosity and half in hesitance.

No answer.

The edges of her beak twitched just a bit, the Decidueye unsure of whether she should've been grinning or she should've been saying 'forgive me' like the Xurkitree was prone to do. Either way, she'd done it- she'd won. That fact alone made her chuckle to herself in a small triumphant moment, but just as quick, she was darting over to their bag still thrown against a tree and retrieving the last golden seed left in it.

"You dragged me to hell and back, but by the gods, I guess I finally pulled it off," Astrid mused softly to herself, eyeing her comrade as she darted back over.

She held the seed close to her fainted friend and it glowed, Raijin's glow returning almost as fast. He gave another twitch, and while he stirred for a second, he paused with his gaze locked on the feathered ghost.

"You… You did it, didn't you?" he mused nonchalantly.

She nodded. "Three Spirit Shackles."

"… Yeah, that last one was something I did not want to take," Raijin remarked, picking himself up.

Astrid gave a shy chuckle. "… I guess it's my turn to say 'forgive me.'"

"Hey, that's my saying," her comrade playfully shot back, giving her a nudge. "But still! Normally I wouldn't be happy about getting knocked out, but in this case, I am! You're a real handful to deal with, I'm not gonna lie."

"Well, I'd say the same about you," Astrid remarked. "You still beat me way more than I beat you and five out of those six healing items went to me, but… Do you think I'm coming along okay…?"

Raijin nodded. "Well, you've gotta keep in mind that the other Beasts on Ultra Space aren't hanging around you all the time and might not even know what, exactly, a Decidueye is other than being your species. That gives me some leverage that they don't have."

"True," she acknowledged. "I'm not taking that for granted, though. You're still my friend and we both know that subconsciously, at least, you don't actually wanna fight me. That's not true for the others, and it might play out differently just because of that."

"I can agree," Raijin replied. "And if I'm reading you right, your strategy is a fairly even mix of staying defensive and going on the offensive. Making sure you evade attacks is probably your best bet right now, not because you're weak or anything like that, but just because of how hard the majority of Beasts hit."

Astrid nodded. "And I agree with that too," she noted. "I know I resist your Discharges, but taking them is still something I'd rather not do if I don't have to, and I doubt I'd be able to stand up to a super effective move if you had one."

"Exactly, and this probably goes without saying, but that's why you should still be cautious. There's Pheromosas with Ice Beam, Naganadels with Air Slash, Kartanas with Night Slash, and Blacephalons with Flamethrower to name a few. Obviously you'll still have me close by and Lunala has Wide Guard so she can cover for us, but the last thing we want is to take any avoidable damage. We've got good synergy together, you're good at assessing the situation, and I've got plenty of experience battling other Beasts, so we should be able to manage."

The Decidueye eyed her comrade for just a second and asked, "You think we stand a chance against Void…?"

Raijin shrunk up a bit, touching his fingers together. "… I sure hope so," he softly replied. "I like having you as a comrade, and I just like you. You wouldn't be the same Astrid if Void got ahold of you, and… either way… I wouldn't be able to protest it if she poisoned me again, but something tells me she wouldn't keep me around to be your teammate anymore, i-if you know what I mean…"

He shuddered, and Astrid fluffed out slightly herself. She didn't want that, she didn't want any of that… but she also couldn't help thinking that a certain other Ultra Beast, or rather, a certain trio of them, wouldn't let them stay teammates either. She shoved that thought to the back of her mind and quickly reached her wings around her comrade, and he too clutched her.

"I won't lie and say I'm not scared, but for what it's worth, I believe in us…" Raijin's voice trailed off.

Astrid's eyes drooped and narrowed all the same. "… Me too."

She let go, and he did too after giving her one last amiable squeeze.

Astrid straightened her leafy hood out a bit and dusted herself off, letting out a somewhat heavy breath. "… We've been out here awhile, haven't we?"

"Several hours, at least."

She chuckled under her breath. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm tired. You've got arrow punctures and I've got burnt feathers. Wanna call it a day?"

Raijin nodded. "Yeah, that sounds- ah-…!"

The Xurkitree twitched rather unexpectedly, his glow flickering for a second. Astrid too jumped a bit at the sudden change in demeanor, going slightly tense and eyeing her comrade intently.

Raijin went limp and slumped in a mess on the ground, voice softly trailing off, "Why am I… going dormant…? It's not… time for… that…"

Astrid blinked, hesitance creeping into her expression, for there was absolutely no reason for her comrade to be acting like that. She gave him a slight nudge with one talon, asking in hurried uncertainty, "Raijin? Raijin, what's wrong?"

"Astrid, is that you…? Where… are… we…"

She blinked again, then quickly perked up as she saw a small flicker of light from someplace further back in their tree-shrouded surroundings. She jerked aside, definitely feeling something very, very off dart through the air beside her, and plucked another arrow from one wing that she prepared to shoot.

"Who's there?!" she asked in a hushed but firm tone, using one of her feet to grab hold of one of Raijin's arms.

No one answered, but someone was definitely making a very quick move to someplace else obscured in the brush. They hardly made a sound, and though they weren't outright invisible, Astrid couldn't make out a single detail for how quick they darted around. It was almost as if they were blending into the shadows, using darkness as a cover in the dimmed surroundings, and she certainly didn't like it.

She narrowed her eyes and pulled her hood closer around her head to focus. Her vision and her arrow followed along with the other figure's quick movements around her, or at least she tried to, for she always seemed to be a moment behind. Whatever company she had, they were quick and stealthy, and her grip on her oddly disoriented comrade tightened in apprehension.

"Who's there?!" she repeated with more volume, more of a pointed hiss than anything. "If you're a petty troublemaker, you've picked the wrong target, and if you're affiliated with a certain someone that's got a target on both me and my friend, then you may as well get out here and face me!"

"Astrid…? What's happening…?" Raijin inquired in a rather subdued voice, twitching ever-so-slightly.

"I don't know, Raijin," she replied swiftly, eyes still narrowed and seeking out a target.

She debated vanishing into the ground right then and there to escape whoever might've been messing with her, but no, she wasn't going to leave her friend on his own with possibly hostile company that would undoubtedly have far less mercy for him than they'd have for herself. The Discharges she had taken left her feeling tired, and they'd used up their berries and seeds… She wasn't sure what was going on, but whatever it was, she wasn't feeling good about it.

However, apparently the shrouded one heeded her words, for someone emerged from their hiding place in the shadows and traipsed closer as if absolutely nothing was amiss. It was a rather sleek figure, mostly dark blue with a pink 'scarf'… a Greninja, and one sporting a little satchel with something clunky stowed inside. Her first thought would've been Kaminari back in Tranquil Town, but no, this one was a little smaller. Smaller and… more familiar.

"… Hey! It's been too long, aha…~!"

She definitely recognized the voice, and even if she hadn't, the black scarf tied around one arm with a badge bearing 'Team Starstorm' gave him away. She blinked and froze, not quite believing what she saw, and her arrow wavered for a second- this was her partner, someone that'd stuck by her through thick and thin and stayed by her side since day one, yet the possibilities still played in her head about what could've happened in Ultra Space that she hadn't seen… As much as she didn't want to think about it, it could've been a trap…

"Arashi…?" she asked, hopeful but slightly faint.

Her partner disarmingly held his hands in the air, laughing happily. "The one and only! We're both looking a little different since last time, aha!"

Still, Astrid could feel Raijin tense up just a little in her grip, though he was still staying oddly dazed. "Ah…! Astrid…" the Beast said, sounding slightly distorted.

She cast the Xurkitree a quick glance out of the corner of her eye, gaze still mostly fixed on their new company. She had no idea what to make of Raijin's strange state, but clearly, she couldn't do much to help him.

"Hey, don't worry about him- that was me," Arashi calmly noted, still holding his hands up. "I just busted out a Slumber Wand and Confuse Wand and used 'em really fast. I figured you two might be cautious and try to KO me first or something, and I really didn't wanna risk taking a Discharge right off the bat, aha! Those sparks are kiiiiinda terrifying!"

She blinked, her arrow wavering some more. It was true, her partner did tend to be frightened by Raijin's sparks, and it was also true that both herself and the Xurkitree had already been talking about how the Arashi they saw might not truly be the Arashi they knew… As close as they were, Astrid wasn't surprised that her partner would anticipate such. It was his voice and his antics, alright, and the badge he wore on one arm was definitely something that wouldn't be carried by anyone else. She dropped her arrow, turned loose of Raijin, and darted over to the Greninja with her wings outstretched. Arashi threw his arms around her too, giggling in bliss.

"Arashi…!" Astrid breathed, her eyes getting misty. "W-what happened?! I've been worried sick over you…!"

"Lots of things happened.~ Don't worry, alright? Today's a good day!"

"How'd you get here?!" Astrid bleated out next, the feathers on her face becoming slightly wet from the droplets leaving her eyes. "You had to have escaped Void and her emissaries and…! I-it just seems so impossible!"

At that, her friend pulled away and slipped the satchel off, opening it up to reveal a cuboidal vessel with a rather faint purple glow visible from inside, around which was cluttered some smallish bundles of wands, a max potion or two, and a Reviver Seed. He winked. "This is Gemini- well, I guess they technically don't have a name or even a pronoun preference, but if every other Cosmog is just 'the Cosmog' or 'the little nebula,' then I wanted mine to be unique even if it's only for a little while!"

She was slightly taken aback at seeing the glowing vessel, knowing how tightly guarded and valuable that species was according to everyone else from Ultra Space that she'd heard talk about them, but if there was any way to escape Void's territory, that was it. Her partner giving the little nebula a moniker to make them 'unique' was definitely par. Judging from the way the vessel wasn't moving and the glow was more faint than she'd remembered seeing Squad Fourteen-Five's be when their own Cosmog was still conscious, this one here had to be knocked out… which was probably a smart move on her partner's part to keep from getting whisked back to Ultra Space. She had questions, to be sure, but as far as she could tell, Arashi wasn't becoming aggressive at seeing Void's two prime targets, which greatly put her at ease.

"Arceus above," Astrid remarked, shaking her head in stupor. "I… I can only imagine how you got your hands on that."

Her partner got an awkward look, closing the satchel back up and giggling uncomfortably. "… It was from Remi, actually," he said, sounding like a kid that got caught stealing from a cookie jar.

Astrid's gaze snapped up. "Remi?" she gasped. "That Pheromosa that Raijin says is scary? Adnea showed us what they did to everyone else the day we got split up! Them and Knox were both heading back to see Void last time any of us saw them, and that was right after we got played by Azure, too! So that means-…!"

Her eyes went wide. That entailed several possibilities, and she wasn't quite sure which one was more probable. She didn't say a thing, rather wanting to hear it from her partner's mouth.

"Yeah, I've met all of them," Arashi said with a chuckle, nonchalantly sticking his hands behind his head. "Knox is chill but his voice is really loud, Remi is terrifying and just being in the same room with them makes me uneasy, Salem is, well… She's Salem, and the both of us know how Salem is! As scary as Remi is, even they refuse to get into a fight with her!"

The Decidueye nodded, concern entering her countenance. "Well, I can't say I blame them for not wanting to deal with Salem," she mused. "So that must've put you… close to Void."

Arashi nodded. "Yeah! When she's just floating around and relaxing, she's honestly pretty adorable! When she gets mad, though… she starts saying some pretty disturbing stuff!"

That sounded par, Astrid figured, but she was more concerned with her partner admitting that he'd met the Nihilego responsible for all the mayhem they'd been through. "S-so you've seen her," she noted.

Another chuckle came from her comrade. "Oh, I've seen her, alright! I've seen her plenty!" He dropped his arms down from behind his head and gently placed one hand on Astrid's shoulder. "And look. You're not gonna like what I have to say, but…"

She had a bad feeling that she knew where he was going. She tensed up again, hands clenching slightly.

"… I think we should join her, Astrid," Arashi said as though there were absolutely nothing wrong with that statement. "I mean, you and me together! It doesn't feel right only being me!"

She blinked, then blinked again, and again. "No," she said quickly. "Arashi, no." She brushed his hand off of her shoulder and hurriedly backed away, eyes huge. "My gods, she did it. She fucking did it and you're one of them. Oh, Arceus above, no…"

Arashi took a few steps forward as she backed away, still looking as though nothing could rain on his parade. "C'mon, Astrid, just think about it!"

"I have thought about it!" she cried, looking perturbed as could be. "And frankly, between the two of us, I do way more thinking about things than you!"

The Greninja laughed. "Hey, I'm not arguing about that! But c'mon, really, think about it- she's the new goddess of Ultra Space and she can literally make us objectively the best team in existence! We won't have to be afraid every time we venture off alone, we won't have to run anymore, and we'll get to go on all kinds of crazy adventures together through a ton of different galaxies!"

She couldn't believe the words leaving her partner's mouth. He wasn't lying, but the way he said those ridiculous words with a smile on his face made shivers run down Astrid's form. "Gods help me, Arashi, stop it…" she pleaded, sounded like she might pass out.

He giggled again, taking a step closer. "Stop what? Astrid, it's not the poison talking, it's me! I've been to her domain and I've seen what's going on there! This fight that you're trying to put up is unwinnable, and I'm trying to spare you the pain!"

Astrid shook her head, backing away some more. "No, no, no!" she shrieked. "Void, what the fuck have you done?! Raijin was right- you're Arashi, but you are not our Arashi…!"

"But I am, though!" her partner protested, still grinning haplessly. "I've been missing you this entire time and waiting for when Team Starstorm would be whole again! You're my best friend and I care about you, so if you won't hear it from anyone else, hear it from me! Void can turn you into so much more than just an ordinary Decidueye, and you'll never have to be afraid of anyone ever again! And believe me, her underlings are already intimidating even when we aren't going at each other, so if you keep insisting on defying her, well… you're gonna get really hurt! You don't want that, and I'll be the one to feel sick if I see it happen!"

He was the last creature she'd ever expect to tell her to give up and join Void, and the simple fact that he was saying such horrified her on several levels. She was sure it was the poison talking and not her partner, but on the other hand, maybe there was some truth to his words…

*Astrid, listen to me very carefully,* came a certain Orbeetle's flat voice that Astrid couldn't have been more relieved to hear. *Lunala and I see what's going on here and he's fully acting under her influence. I didn't detect him earlier due to several problematic circumstances, but I need you to be on your utmost guard right now.*

*Oh, I'm trying,* Astrid thought back, backing away some more and shakily reaching for an arrow. *Void's trying to mess with me, and to be honest, it's working.*

*I can tell. It's not safe to warp the three of you into the base given how the poisoned ones can be and the fact that we still don't have a read on Void, Necrozma, or the other cadres to know what their ultimate goal is. What Lunala sees in Arashi isn't guaranteed to be the full picture, and we can't give them full confirmation that we have Lunala unless that becomes absolutely necessary, since no one else would open a wormhole for you but her.*

Astrid nodded while Arashi eyed her curiously, apparently thinking of something that she couldn't even begin to determine. She could practically hear her own heart about to rip out of her chest, and the way Arashi's eyes drooped indicated that he was picking up on her fear. Raijin twitched a little more, even sparking a bit when she grabbed one of his cables with one foot again, but the effects of forced dormancy and confusion apparently hadn't worn off yet. It started to make sense- the flicker she'd seen in the shrouded brush had to have been her partner trying to hit her with a wand's effects too, and when she'd caught on to his presence, he was both avoiding her Spirit Shackle and sizing her up… The Cosmog was KO'd, and the fact that a Dark-type was carrying the vessel and the little nebula wasn't actively thinking had to make things hard for Adnea to detect, but the unused Reviver Seed in Arashi's satchel could easily rouse the little nebula back to normal for a quick getaway after Astrid and Raijin were neutralized… The simple fact that they'd been there for hours and Adnea had yet to tell them to ditch because of an unwanted interception was probably so the Greninja could track them down and swoop in unsuspected to make off with them in one go. It was far too calculated to be Arashi's work alone.

In moments, her face was contorting in horror at the realization. She was tired out from her fight with Raijin, she had no method of healing herself, her opponent moved faster than her, and while she could simply phase into the ground to hide, that would likely mean losing the one comrade she absolutely could not afford to lose if she left him unguarded… It was Arashi's body, Arashi's voice, and Arashi's mannerisms, but she may as well have been staring at Void herself.

"Hey, look," Arashi said gently, smallish flickers of the vanishing sunlight glinting off of sharp blades of water that formed in one hand. "You're my best friend, Astrid. I know you're gonna fight me on it, but friends want each other to be happy, and the path you're heading down now isn't gonna make you happy. I'm trying to save you."

Astrid had no doubt that, in her partner's mind, he was trying to save her. A sound halfway between a pained gasp and a frustrated screech escaped her for a second, her eyelids twitching in a mix of fear and dismay.

However, the words that left her beak as she aimed her arrow at her partner were more akin to a faint groan of exhaustion. "… You've gotta be kidding me."


Author's note: Y'know, sometimes I like making facetious titles for my chapters, and this is one that I referred to as "In which Raijin whoops Astrid's ass" or "Shy bird gets into fight with power line and loses spectacularly."

Have a lovely day, everyone.