Even if the jungle was safe for the time being, something evidently caught Lunala's attention, for she perked up fairly quickly with her expression going flat.

"Oh, damn," the words left the ethereal goddess, everyone else perking up at the sound too.

Astrid tensed up fairly quickly simply at the flat tone of her voice, and every other member of their group turned their gazes on her.

"What's up?" Rush asked without skipping a beat.

"Is something wrong?" Raijin too was quick to inquire.

Lunala sighed, looking off into the distance almost aimlessly. "Of every squad to cross paths with, why that one…" her voice trailed off as she shook her head. "I spoke too soon."

Her comrades perked up even more.

"Do we have company…?" Rozen asked, sounding rather concerned.

"It's not Remi and Knox, is it?!" Arashi cried, looking almost disturbed at the thought.

The goddess shook her head again. "No, no," she replied. "It's Squad Fourteen-Five. And no, not here. Ama and Xeno's group saw Sixty-O-Three off in the distance, headed over there to try playing lost, they recognized them, and Fourteen-Five called their bluff. It's about to go down and-… Heavens above, Ama just cussed! She is not happy!"

Still they perked up more.

"Ama?!" Rush exclaimed. "Of all the 'Mon in the universe, Ama cussed?!"

The scene played in their heads the next moment- the Buzzwole calling them out, the Blissey's dismay, and the sweetly spoken but exorbitantly harsh 'gods fucking damn it' that followed.

"… Well, I guess she isn't happy if she said something like that," Dren mused, still not quite believing it. "I wouldn't be, either."

Rush laughed. "Heh, I totally get her reaction!" he said, grinning. "If Nifty and Swaggy stumbled across me an' Rozen after all this time, they'd probably say the same damn thing! Only difference is Ama actually knows what the fuck she's doin' this time and wasn't a fuckin' dumbass to start with!"

Rozen too got a grin at the analogy, stifling a little chuckle.

"And we beat that squad, just the three of us!" Arashi added, looking among his teammates. "And me and Astrid weren't even evolved back then! Ama just didn't know what her team was getting into the first time, so they should be okay this time, right?"

"Damn straight, Li'l Blue," the Scrafty affirmed. "Besides, they got Xeno with 'em, and that bastard's a handful all by himself too. He acts like a kooky jackass all the time, but he knows how to use every goddamned form he has in his arsenal."

Astrid glanced at her Beast comrade. "He's got yours," she noted.

Raijin tapped his fingers together. "… Well, I'm glad about that, at least… Maybe it'll come in handy for them."

"He's got other ones too," Lunala noted. "I'll keep an eye on them just in case."

That was as agreeable as anything, the rest of them figured. Astrid definitely hoped they'd have less trouble than both her own team and Ama's team initially had.

. . . . .

Of course, whether that was actually the case was anyone's guess.

*Ama, who gave your team the most trouble?!* came Ravi's telepathic voice in the Blissey's head.

*The pretty one!* Ama thought back. *She hits as hard as a Metagross, blasts as hard as a Volcarona, and moves as fast as a Ninjask!*

"Good to know!" Xeno exclaimed, seemingly completely unrelated until his form glowed white and started morphing into a less bulky, more gracefully agile form- that of a Pheromosa. "Let's see what it can do!"

The actual Pheromosa herself was already on the offensive, rushing out and Lunging at the Blissey. She practically turned to a blur, but Xeno did too, Lunging at the stick-thin Beast in turn with an almost stupid grin on his Ditto face. Sixty-O-Three's move was completely derailed, the claws on Xeno's feet colliding with her own before her move could connect. Ama was definitely relieved, skittering back in precaution, but Sixty-O-Three became befuddled at first seeing that her move did not make contact, then at seeing an identical set of Pheromosa claws intertwined with hers. Her eyes quickly traced along the extra set of claws, then to the leg they were attached to, then to the body that the leg was attached to, then to the red identifying marks on that body's arm, then to that body's head with its blank, beady eyes and uncannily wide grin for an ordinary Pheromosa's face…

"WHAT THE HELL!" Sixty-O-Three shrieked, retreating further back again. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

Xeno giggled, happily twirling in place at lightning speed. "I'm a Ditto, and right now, I'm you!"

That only distressed her even more. "You're what?! No! My face is not that horrifying!"

Xeno gasped, looking distressed himself. "'Horrifying?!' Now, that was hurtful!"

Seth, on the other hand, evidently had Seven Thousand pegged as the most concerning, for he too turned into a blur while aiming a Bullet Punch at her. Thankfully for the Nihilego, she had the sense to put up a Reflect in front of her when the others in the entourage had taken battle-ready stances, but even so, the screen cracked and she twitched in fright.

"Scary! Scary!" the Nihilego fussed, the air around her taking a purple hue. "Seven Thousand make you stop!"

A cloud of smog descended on the Scizor that might've stopped him if he hadn't been a Steel-type immune to poison, but he wasn't fazed and instead smashed through the screen with an X-Scissor. "Go ahead and try, you fragile idiot," he hissed, revving up for another Bullet Punch. "I dare you."

"I dare you!" Fourteen-Five hissed in turn, one hand wrenching around the Scizor's neck.

CLANG!

Seth's attack missed the Nihilego on account of being held in place by the Buzzwole, who pulled his own fist back before Hammer Arming the other bug in the back. A yell of pain escaped Seth, but at the same time, his wings flapped furiously in an effort to Wing Attack the Beast behind him. The Buzzwole too cried out, but rather in surprise, for he turned loose of the Scizor fairly quickly to avoid taking any Flying-type hits. Nonetheless, he shortly had to avoid another one, for Riven rushed at him too with outstretched wings.

"Don't you touch Seth!" the Honchkrow fussed.

"If you not try touch Seven Thousand, that not be problem!" Seven Thousand fussed back, throwing up a Reflect in front of her team lead and ducking around behind him. She perched herself like a bonnet atop the Buzzwole's head, chidingly shaking one tentacle at their enemies.

Riven's attack met with the screen, but there was something else to worry about when the ground underneath him started to shake and crack. Seth apparently had an idea of what that could entail, for he reached out with one pincer and yanked the dark avian towards him as a green-tinted and sparkling Stone Edge erupted from the ground.

"Damn!" the Honchkrow squawked. "Thanks, matey!"

"Don't mention it," Seth brushed him off, turning loose fairly quickly.

Cinder, though, had similar ideas to Riven, albeit on a different target. He sprang into the air and gave a few good flaps for speed, one wing becoming cloaked in a steely glow as his eyes locked on the Nihilego. That species was awful at taking physical hits, and she was weak to Steel-type moves, so surely one hit could eliminate the problem she posed…

At least, it might have, if she didn't put up another Reflect around her. Her fragile tentacle arms clung tight to Fourteen-Five as if she might absorb some of his durability if she squeezed him hard enough, and at the same time, a cloud of smog filled the air around her that disoriented Cinder enough to not hit her even if the screen hadn't been in the way.

"Fuck!" Cinder screeched, eyes and airways burning from the poison.

"Cinder, darling!" Ama exclaimed, taking note too. "Come here!"

The Nihilego detached from her bonnet-like position with the tips of her tentacles filling with purple, but before she could hit the Fletchinder with a Venoshock, she herself let out a cry of pain as she was hit with a Psychic. "Owww…!" she whimpered, hugging herself and swaying a bit.

"We know what your kind does!" came a shout from Ravi, the obvious source of the attack.

"Hurt my friend and I'll hurt you!" Lazuli declared, firing off an Ice Beam too.

The Azumarill's attack sailed at her too, making the Nihilego have to duck out of the way before she could go back to her perch on her team lead's head. Cinder, though, heeded Ama's words and quickly turned to fly back to her, though he practically crashed at her feet in a tangle of limbs and feathers. The Blissey sprang into action immediately, reaching down and patting the Fletchinder's head while a gentle blue glow cloaked both her and the sprawled avian- a Refresh.

"Holy fuck, that poison is something else," the fiery avian choked out, sounding pained even as the glow lifted the burning, draining feeling. "Getting stung by a Toxapex has nothing on this."

"Happy thoughts, my love, happy thoughts," the Blissey said gently.

However, Seven Thousand's cloud of poison still spread and shortly looked as though it would descend on the rest of the expeditioners, to which Xeno's form hurriedly Transformed to that of a Staraptor.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Xeno exclaimed.

The Ditto gave furious flaps of his wings, kicking up sand that disgruntled his comrades (save for Ravi with his Lock-On Specs still shielding his eyes) but, at the same time, Defogged their surroundings of any sinister purple clouds. The Beasts didn't flinch too much at the sand, but they did flinch at seeing Xeno's body change again and disperse the poison so quickly.

"HOW?!" Fourteen-Five hollered.

"It's what I'm good at- uwaaa!" the Ditto began to playfully banter.

An Ice Beam from Sixty-O-Three shut him up, landing another pained avian at Ama's feet. The Blissey didn't mind in the slightest, bathing them both in a Soft-Boiled glow that had them both feeling leagues better in a few moments. The Pheromosa, though, looked like she wanted to jab some claws into Ama, but whether she was going to or not became a moot point when another Bullet Punch from Seth followed, aimed at her face. She let out a startled shriek and ducked aside, the Scizor's pincer brushing up against her cheek but still carrying enough force to break skin. A few little red trickles dripped down the Pheromosa's white face, and even if it wasn't an outright hit, she still looked taken aback by it.

"You're not laying a claw on her," Seth growled. "She's too good for the likes of you."

Sixty-O-Three wordlessly brushed a bit of the blood from her face with one claw, eyes narrowing on the Scizor as if she wanted someone else's blood on her own claws (which, given their circumstances, she likely did).

Ravi, on the other hand, seemed fairly antsy too, for he stomped his hooves and kicked in place as if getting ready to charge someone. He didn't make any moves, but he was definitely Worked Up as he said, "Alright, let's get 'em."

Cinder was up quickly, eyes darting around as if picking out which target was the most appealing. "You're a damn good healer too, Ama."

"Anytime, my lovely~!" the Blissey chirped back.

Xeno was back up fairly quickly as well, Transforming into a Machamp. "Thanks, Ama!" he cried, then called to Lazuli, "Hey, you think the tides are right~?"

The Azumarill grinned. "I do!"

The Beasts, of course, had no idea what she was referring to, but the aquatic one's comrades had an idea.

"What do you mean, 'tide?'" Fourteen-Five said incredulously, balling up a fist. "That's something that only your world- oh, my goddess!"

He figured it out fairly quickly when Xeno put up a Wide Guard around everyone but Lazuli, and she giggled happily while a myriad of water droplets condensed in the air around her. Shortly, there was a very large wave at her beck and call, which she happily let crash down on everything in their vicinity.

"No!" Sixty-O-Three cried, darting off to the side as fast as she could.

Fourteen-Five turned and darted for the sandstone cliffs, crawling and grappling up them as fast as he could with Seven Thousand floating along as fast as she could go too.

The Nihilego and Buzzwole both hollered in fright as Lazuli's Surf smashed into the cliff, the latter of the two clutching at a higher rock and trying to hold his legs up out of the way. Seven Thousand got splashed a bit, but being strong against special attacks was definitely still in her favor even if she did whimper a bit. Their Pheromosa comrade, though, was completely unscathed, having outrun the attack. Their surroundings, on the other hand, looked different- the sandstone was damp and slick, clearly not a good fit for climbing or walking on, and the sand on the ground was likewise damp. There would be no more miniature sandstorms, for the little sparkling grains clumped together tightly and wouldn't be moved as easily as before.

However, that wasn't the only thing that looked different- Xeno flew overhead, taking the form of a tiny Cutiefly first, then dropped down, Transforming into the visage of the Beast squad lead himself. Just like the actual Buzzwole too, he clung to the cliff edges with a vise-like grip and frantically flapping wings.

"Seven Thousand not like that one!" the Nihilego exclaimed with a slight screech to her voice.

"Me neither, Seven Thousand!" Xeno affirmed, perfectly mimicking Fourteen-Five's voice.

The actual Buzzwole perked up, taking note of their company instantly. "You!" he exclaimed. "Don't even try!"

Seven Thousand gave a frightened shudder, floating away from the cliff and frantically looking between the two figures that were on either side of her. "H-huh?!"

"Try what?!" Xeno retorted. "Don't you try to confuse my comrade, you off-world weirdo!"

Fourteen-Five yanked himself up onto a flat surface, balling up one fist and pointing an accusatory finger at the Ditto. "She's my comrade! Seven Thousand, you know who your team lead is!"

He struck a very flamboyant pose with his magnificent arms flexed, evidently some manner of letting the Nihilego know who she should've been listening to, but Xeno too yanked himself up and struck a pose- one arm at an upwards angle straight out to his side, and the other arm bent with his head tucked into the bend.

"Yeah, she knows who her team lead is!" Xeno protested.

From the way the Nihilego's gaze kept darting back and forth between them, evidently, she didn't.

The actual Buzzwole, though, instantly started to shake with rage at seeing Xeno's pose, and struck one of his own- both arms stretched straight out at his side like a 'T.' "You wanna taunt me, troublemaker?!"

"I sure do!" Xeno hollered back, relaxing from the pose and balling up one fist.

Fourteen-Five followed suit, balling one fist up and drawing it back to punch.

On the ground, though, Ravi was still getting Worked Up, stomping about in place and snorting in what looked like rage. The head on his tail was outright snarling and baring its fangs as if tearing into some invisible foe's throat, but shortly, the Girafarig stood still and got a look of concentration as a grin graced both his face and his tail-head's face. "Give it to 'im, boss," he breathed contentedly, getting cloaked in a bluish glow.

Xeno too became cloaked in the same blue glow- a Power Swap. All of Ravi's Working Up transferred to the Ditto instead, putting even more force behind his fist as both he and the Buzzwole threw a Mega Punch. Evidently, Fourteen-Five was banking on the Ditto either backing off or changing form again, for while Xeno swerved out of the way of his foe's fist, the actual Buzzwole did not… and received a rather hard blow when Xeno's fist connected. The force quite literally rippled all across Fourteen-Five's body, his swollen fluid-filled appendages distorting for a moment like a water balloon about to burst, but nonetheless (and thankfully for the Beast), his body held together.

"AUGH!" Fourteen-Five yelled, stumbling back.

The actual Buzzwole lost his footing and fell in a heap on the cliff's surface, fists still clenched even if he'd been dealt a good hit. Seven Thousand evidently thought that surely, the one still standing had to be her team lead, for she floated closer to Xeno instead with the air around her starting to turn purple.

"Hah! I thought so!" the Ditto exclaimed. "Wanna see something else?!"

In moments, the form of a Buzzwole was replaced by something else- a certain Xurkitree's form with 'UB03-0067' marked on one arm and a Ditto face where one front head spike was supposed to be. Xeno didn't waste any time, immediately sparking like a tempestuous sky with plenty of bolts to Discharge.

Seven Thousand clearly caught on, for she dove between him and her team lead while shrieking "NO!" and filling the air with more Toxic smog.

On the ground, everyone else took notice too, and Sixty-O-Three stopped trying to dodge Flamethrowers from Cinder or Ice Beams from Lazuli while the two belonging to the Coalition turned their attention to Ama.

"I'm your shield, lovelies!" the Blissey hollered, throwing her tiny arms out to the side.

Seth (very) carefully took each of her arms in his pincers and knelt down as low to the ground as he could get while holding the Blissey upwards and out like a literal shield. Every single one of their comrades dove behind her too, all of them huddling as close together as they could possibly get with what area the Blissey could successfully shield them from. Sixty-O-Three struck a ridiculous pose, but it nonetheless allowed her to dodge the onslaught of bolts.

Crrrrrraaack!

Lightning rained down everywhere- onto the cliffs, onto the ground, and onto the still-grinning Ama.

"Oooooh!" the Blissey cried, not fazed at all. "Oh, darling Raijin's form really is something else! I forgot how it feels to take a lightning bolt and actually, well… feel it!"

"Is it okay to say you're fucking crazy, Ama?!" Riven exclaimed. "In a loving sort of way!"

"Of course, my gnarly darling~!"

Thankfully for Fourteen-Five, his glassy comrade could successfully shield him, and he scurried back to his feet with shaking fists. The Nihilego still positioned herself in front of her comrade, the tips of her tentacle arms filling with poison for a Venoshock. However, Xeno's form changed yet again, morphing into a certain Steel- and Bug-type with huge, heavy pincers…

Seven Thousand found herself looking at a Ditto-eyed copy of Seth for just a split second before she was looking at one of those pincers up-close and personal when Xeno Bullet Punched her.

CRACK!

"YIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

An utterly horrific cry of agony and dismay erupted from the Nihilego as her bell cracked like glass, the breaks resembling a tightly knit spider web with purple-trickling strings. More cracks branched off around the back and down to some of her tendrils, and she shook like a dying leaf in the air for a second before going limp and falling.

Crack!

She fell onto the rocks closer to the ground, her form shattering even more and splattering the vicinity with purple fluid. Some of her tendril tips were completely broken, and hairline fractures jutted out along quite a few of her surfaces. Still more poison pooled beneath her, flowing out from her broken form just like blood… It truly wasn't a pretty sight. Some of the expeditioners had no idea whether to be horrified or relieved, but the Beasts, on the other hand, didn't have any trouble determining what they felt.

"SEVEN THOUSAND!" Fourteen-Five shrieked, sounding almost as agonized.

"NO!" Sixty-O-Three cried, eye huge.

The Pheromosa took the offensive again, shooting an Ice Beam off at Xeno, who in turn held up his pincers to block it.

The Buzzwole, on the other hand, leaped down as quick as he could, landing on the lower edges with a thud. He knelt down beside the Nihilego as if to look for any movement or noise to give him an idea of his comrade's condition… but there was only stillness and silence. Fists clenching even tighter, he turned his eyes on the rest of Xeno's comrades, saying in a low buzzing, growling voice, "… You all are going to PAY for this!"

Sixty-O-Three hissed in disturbed wrath and darted over to her still-conscious comrade, her own claws shaking as her eyes narrowed at every single expeditioner in turn. Xeno, on the other hand, Transformed into a Crobat and swiftly flew down to the rest of his comrades, avoiding another Ice Beam from Sixty-O-Three.

"That was crazy," Lazuli said in a low voice.

"Gnarly as hell," Seth softly agreed.

"Well, I had to do something about that neurotoxin," Xeno mused, keeping his voice low too.

However, they all felt the ground rumble below them, and it was easy enough to tell what the cause was- a Stone Edge. The winged ones quickly flitted out of the way and the other scurried as best they could, but one in particular just wasn't fast enough… a certain pink, fluffy one.

"Ama!" Cinder cried, realizing her position.

The stones that erupted from the ground battered her like a ragdoll, jabbing into her skin and flinging her into the air.

"UWAGH!" a sharp of shriek of pain came from the Blissey.

It was the turn of the expeditioners to get a horrified look, for the Happiny line's physical frailty combined with Fourteen-Five's prowess with physical attacks meant that the hit she'd taken had to have felt awful. She crashed back into the wet sand with another soft thud, the ground at least padding her fall.

Crack.

"A-aaaah…!" she gasped, hardly audible and face contorted with pain.

She could bathe in her own Soft-Boiled glow, surely, and she'd definitely need it for the scratches and gashes tinging her pastel fur with crimson… but the egg in her pouch was cracked, and arguably, that would disturb the Blissey more than her wounds. Her comrades looked as hesitant as could be.

… Apparently, it was the first thing she noticed too.

"… My egg!" she gasped, eyes trailing down to her pouch, then on realizing the hefty crack in its shell with a bit of yolk dribbling out, "MY EGG! OH, GODS, MY EGG!"

She scurried to her feet, frantically patting the object in question while yet another agonized screech of despair and pain filled the air. The expeditioners flinched, not needing to physically feel any pain to realize that there was plenty of it to go around.

Ama's gaze turned to Squad Fourteen-Five's standing members while basking in a Soft-Boiled glow, a smile nonetheless gracing her face even if it was full of agony. "… By the gods, we break their comrade and they break my egg." She patted it again, trying haplessly to tuck some of the spilled yolk back into the shell. "THEY BREAK. MY EGG. DID NO ONE TEACH YOU NOT TO TOUCH A BLISSEY'S EGG?! BECAUSE I WILL! RIGHT NOW!"

Evidently, and quite obviously, no one had taught them not to touch a Blissey's egg. In actuality, they looked like they had no qualms about touching it again from the death-stares they were shooting, and the expeditioners simply had no idea what to make of Ama's wrath.

. . . . .

"Daaaaaamn! Xeno's a scrapper!" Rush exclaimed, getting a wild-eyed grin at the bits of their comrade's dealings that Lunala showed them.

"… I will never doubt that Ditto again for as long as I live," Raijin remarked, shuddering. "Oh, by Necrozma, that is ugly."

"Did… did he really just…?" Arashi's voice trailed off, an awkward grin on his face.

"Kill her? Probably," Raijin finished the thought, tapping his fingers together and shrinking up a bit. "I'd be seriously surprised if she survived that."

The Greninja blinked, smiling but clearly discomforted a great deal. Astrid fluffed out a bit, and the two of them shared a glance, similar uncertain but relieved looks on their faces. On one hand, that definitely solved the problem that the Nihilego posed to the other group, but on the other hand, Astrid couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for her. Seven Thousand too was just a pawn- she couldn't help being brainwashed by Salem with Void's influence. Nonetheless, it wasn't something that the Decidueye thought on for very long since, clearly, thwarting Void was the main priority and drastic situations called for out-of-the-ordinary solutions… Seven Thousand simply had to go if that's what it took to win, unlucky as she may have been.

"Well, what must be done, must be done," Rozen mused simply. "She would understand, surely."

"Poor thing…" Dren's voice softly trailed off, the Salamence looking down at the ground.

"Well, given our circumstances, we should be glad that things are going fine on our end, relatively speaking," Lunala chimed in. "So long as Necrozma doesn't swoop in on us before we can swoop in on them, we should be fine."

"Hell, if they do swoop in, it ain't like I haven't busted some prism pieces to bits before," Rush remarked.

"I doubt it would be as easy as that, friend," Rozen replied, eyeing the Scrafty.

"Well, we'll find out one way or another," Rush brushed it off.

The Starstorm trio shared a glance at the mention, Raijin shrinking up in hesitance and Arashi getting another uncomfortable grin.

Astrid, however, was completely straight-faced at the idea. The power that the Blinding One possessed was horrifying, to be sure, and as much as she didn't want to be staring down an attack from them… she couldn't help thinking that, if the resulting battle was so intense that Necrozma themselves perished in the fray, she wouldn't have had to leave once everything was said and done.

… But that had to be impossible. Imagining a being like that falling in defeat was difficult enough, never mind being killed by a bunch of mortal creatures. And even if that did happen, then Lunala would still be left, and she'd surely do her best to uphold Necrozma's dealings in their place. There was no way to escape the inevitable end; if they didn't all die beforehand, she'd still get ripped away from her new world that she loved so much. She could try all she wanted, but short of a literal miracle, she wasn't going to circumvent her inevitable goodbye. The Light Trio would make sure of that one way or another.

Her feathers fluffed out again and she directed her gaze at the ground to avoid catching anyone else's gaze, for if she did, she'd likely burst into tears. She clamped her eyes shut just to make sure it wouldn't happen.

… She couldn't see it, and no one else noticed either, but Lunala's expression turned perturbed too.

. . . . .

"Yoooo-hoooo, blow the Beast down…~" Shar sang happily, even if her voice sounded more like a growl than anything happy.

"Oh, give us some time, we'll blow the Beast down," Azra continued the verse.

Chira grinned, albeit while giving the Garchomp and Aggron some odd looks. "That's a song I haven't heard," she remarked.

"That's the only song you need to know, matey," Shar replied with a snicker. "You can have your love songs and that's all fine and dandy, but me an' my crew sing about blowin' our enemies away if we feel like singin'!"

"But only if we can pull it off and be gnarly about it," Azra added. "If we go singing shanties and lose, then we look like a bunch of chumps and that's not good!"

"Damn right!" Shar affirmed.

"Oh, knock it off, you bunch of edgelords," the Cinccino brushed them off, chuckling a bit.

"It's okay to drop the act every once in a while!" Jingle corroborated. "There's no shame in wanting cuddles or sharing some cute pastries with your friends!"

"'ACT?!'" Shar exclaimed, amusedly looking at the Drampa as if he'd lost his mind. "Being gnarly is a way of life, fuzzball!"

"Don't you have some cleaning you'd rather be doing, sweetheart?" Azra jested, giving Chira a playful nudge with his tail. "Go take those pretty little scarves and fluff some pillows or something!"

Chira gave him a sly look. "Oh, I'll do some cleaning, alright," she replied nonchalantly. "I'll clean your clock, Azra!"

Her tail took on a steely glow, and at the same time, Azra raised his up. A loud CLANG followed as two Iron Tails met and repelled the other, which only made the two of them grin even more.

A certain Orbeetle, however, had other thoughts about their antics. "Watch it, you lot," Adnea said rather harshly, turning her piercing gaze on them.

All of them froze up in response, save for Millicent perched on Jingle's back who silently clasped her hands together with a slightly uncomfortable look. Adnea's eyes stared down every single one of the other four in turn, and each of them flinched just a bit when she made eye contact.

"If your friendly rivalry gets us into a less-than-ideal situation, you have no one but yourselves to blame," she carried on. "Millicent agrees with me too."

Four sets of eyes (or a single eye, in the case of Shar) turned to the little Alcremie, and she made a few hand gestures. (*Listen to her. She's smart.*)

"We're still in the clear though, right?" Chira inquired.

"We are, but given that these foes can tear holes in space to get to us, let's not take chances," Adnea flatly replied. "If anything happens, we need to be focused. Those Beasts won't fall for our act if they see us messing around."

The rest of them were quiet for a moment (at least, the ones of them that used their voices to communicate), and Millicent gave a silent nod of agreement.

"Well, you didn't do all those calculations to get messed up, matey," Shar acquiesced. "You're the smartest 'Mon we have. I'll listen to ya."

"Aye, co-captain," Azra too voiced the same sentiments.

"Alright, alright," Chira too brushed it off.

"Point taken," Jingle said meekly.

Adnea eased up, albeit still with her perpetually piercing gaze. "Good. You never can appropriately account for things outside of your control. Not even me."

No one protested.


Author's note: Yes, I had Xeno and Fourteen-Five throw down T-poses and dabs at each other. I still have no shame.