"So, um, I went over to Aeon Town. Like you asked."
Hydreigon looked up from his half-eaten, oversized bowl of stew. The latias lying on a cushion across from him nervously fidgeted with her claws.
"Oh, you did? Wow, that was fast!" Hydreigon spoke through his main head while his right head-hand continued slurping up stew. His left head-hand squinted at him. "Err, n-not that I wouldn't expect you to be fast or anything, Blossom. You're one of the best fliers around."
Blossom blinked. "Um, thanks?"
They stared in awkward silence that was broken by the slurping of stew broth. Blossom's wings twitched. "Are you, uh, curious what I saw?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes! Of course! Very curious!" Hydreigon nodded all three heads, including the one that was half submerged in the bowl.
Blossom's neck got splattered with broth for her troubles.
"Ah, sorry! Terribly sorry!" Hydreigon forced his right head-hand out of the bowl and drifted away from it. "So, um, what did you find?" He grabbed a small dish towel and tossed it to the latias.
"There was something off in Aeon Town, just as you thought," Blossom explained as she cleaned the broth off her feathers. "But, well... I think it's coming from one of the guildmasters?"
Hydreigon's six eyes widened. "Th-the guildmasters?" He poked his head-hands together. "Oh dear. That sounds, y'know, not good."
"I'm not really sure how to describe it." Blossom's feathers stood on end. "One of the lucario... has something off about his aura. But whenever I tried to probe more, I got a terrible headache — like the whole room was spinning — and had to stop."
"I see." Hydreigon looked down. "W-Well, even so. You've been very helpful." He forced a grin onto all three heads. "I'm sure if I do some digging, I can get to the bottom of things."
"Are you #4realz, Cassius? What are we waiting around for? These dumbasses gonna roll out a #RedCarpet on us?"
Xander stood on a towel he'd placed in the middle of a dusty courtyard. The sylveon eyed the front door of the gaudy orange mansion in front of him. He wasn't sure what was dumber: the sides of the house resembling flexing arms or the fact that this whole building was underground. Seriously, how did the hell did this place go undetected by Radiance's police?
From his place on the mansion's front stoop, Cassius shrugged. "Don Giuseppe works in mysterious ways." The Mr. Rime adjusted his hat. "No doubt he's making sure things are ready for Turian."
Harsh coughing drew Xander's attention to his right. A balding and sickly ursaluna hacked up a mouthful of green-yellow phlegm. Xander put a ribbon over his snout and turned away. The snot reeked as bad as any pure poison-type muk. At least before this Xander could walk away from it.
"You did remember the other part of this package deal, yes?" Cassius said, watching Turian cough up more phlegm.
"Bitch, please." Xander flicked a ribbon dismissively. As if he'd actually forget. He jerked his head in Iron Enforcer's direction. "Show him."
The robotic type: null's back opened. A metal arm emerged clutching a test tube filled with glowing red fluid.
[As ordered.] Iron Enforcer retracted the arm into its back. [Is the subject still viable?]
"She was as of five minutes ago." Cassius had conjured icy playing cards in his hands and shuffled them. "The Don doesn't have the sleight of hand for any fast ones. The transfer should work exactly as we expect it to. No surprises in this deck."
"Puh-leeze lay off the card metaphors." Xander shook his head. "It's cringe."
Before the Mr. Rime could retort, the front door flew open. A guitar and bass riff echoed through the dusty courtyard.
"Hmm?" The sylveon raised a brow.
"Whazzup, Empire bros?!"
Xander saw a flicker of red in the doorway. On instinct, he jumped back and pulled out his uPhone. He managed to start recording as a red carpet rolled its way over the front stoop and all the way across the courtyard, stopping right in front of Turian and Iron Enforcer.
A grapploct clutching a megaphone stepped out of the doorway. "Put your dukes up and start clapping for the realest bro around! The Steely Spirit himself, Big Gus!"
Grapploct twirled the side, letting a dozen lopunny and lilligant file out of the front door, alternating thrusting their arms left and right in time with the guitar and bass.
"Get down tonight with our boy Gus!"
Iron Enforcer's red eyes glowed. [Why are these meatbags singing?]
"The party never stops with our boy Gus!"
Xander almost dropped his uPhone in surprise as the lopunny and lilligant stepped to the sides of the red carpet and began throwing out confetti.
"The coolest cat around, that's our boy Gus!"
The sylveon caught a gray gleam within the doorway. Then the portliest perrserker Xander had ever laid eyes on waddled out the front door, whooping and blowing kisses to his assembled cheerleaders.
"He'll knock you to the ground, cuz he's Big Gus!"
"Mwah, mwah! Hugs and kisses!" Gus switched from blowing kisses to flashing victory signs as the music died down and the lopunny and lilligant broke into applause. "Oh, you're all too kind, my darling gals!" He shot them fingerguns as he waddled past. Cassius hadn't left his spot on the front stoop and was ignoring Gus while continuing to shuffle his deck of icy cards.
Xander struggled to keep a straight face. This was the Medici Crime Family's leader?! Gus was nothing but a sleazy, smelly tub of lard!
"Well, #XanFam, I know what's going in this week's cringe compilation," the sylveon whispered. He stopped recording and hid his uPhone before Gus got a proper look at him, but he was sure chatting just a snippet later would get him a shitton of clicks.
"You da guy here to bring us da goods?" Gus stroked his bushy beard. It had several colorful splotches. Assorted sauces and condiments from this perrserker's "see food" diet, if Xander had to guess.
"No. I'm the fuzz and I'm here to arrest your ass." Xander's words dripped with sarcasm. "I've got your fighter and the blood moon serum." He gestured to Turian, who was coughing up more nasty phlegm, and Iron Enforcer. The robotic full's back opened, producing the mechanical arm holding the vial.
"Dat's your fighter?" Gus stared at Turian incredulously. "Dey look ready to keel over."
The lopunny and lilligant all laughed. It clearly sounded forced, but Gus bowed and blew kisses to them anyway.
Clearing his throat, Cassius strode down the red carpet. "And that's where your side of the scheme comes in, Don Giuseppe."
"Man." The perrserker sighed. "How many times I gotta say it before you get it t'rough your thick skull?" He tapped the side of his head with a claw. "Giuseppe was my pops, like his pops and his pops before him. I'm Big Gus." He smacked his belly.
"Whatevs." Xander was getting tired of standing in this musty courtyard. "Let Cassius speak."
"We're going to take our fighter and transfer his soul into the ursaluna you captured." The Mr. Rime explained as an icy card warped from his left hand into his right.
Gus' eyes widened. "You can do dat?"
Cassius' card duplicated, then the two cards turned to four. "Of course."
"And dat'll let us put on da show of da century at Salim Stadium?"
"Exactly."
"Now you're speaking my language, ya sonofagun!" Gus slapped his right knee, then snapped his claws. "Carpaccio! Get dat lazy greedent bud of yours out here and bring dis gal 'round back, will ya?"
"Oi, ya heard da boss, nut-for-brains! Get out there!"
A greedent tripped in the doorway and rolled down the red carpet. He managed to stop himself by Turian.
"You got it, Mr. Boss Gus, sir." The greedent waddled behind the ursaluna and began to push her off to the right.
Iron Enforcer glanced at Xander. [Do we follow?]
"I should hope so," Cassius declared, still doing little card tricks with flicks of his wrist. He and Iron Enforcer walked alongside Turian and Greedent while Gus ushered his cheerleaders back through the mansion's front door.
That left Xander at the front gates. The sylveon was about to go after them when a loud "Psst!" caught his attention. Xander glanced over his shoulder and tilted his head.
Was that a porygon-Z stuck inside the gate? It was like the gate's bars impaled its torso. How? That wasn't there before.
Xander was about to signal his allies when he noticed they were frozen in place.
... No, it wasn't just them. All the Medicis were, too.
[Don't mind them, Strimmer!] Porygon-Z's voice was garbled, like it was coming out of some vintage PV speakers. [They're just on an (ADGE BREAK)! But I've extended a little (PRIME GAMING) to you (FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY)!]
Every ounce of Xander told him this was sus as hell. He turned to walk away. "If you're a fan, you can #BuyMyMerch from my link like everyone else." Xander flicked his ribbons dismissively.
[(OMEGALUL)! I see you are a 'mon of a culture as well,] Porygon-Z retorted. It then shouted random directions out and its body jerked around. The metal gate held it in place.
Xander had taken three steps toward the others when it called out, [Don't you want to (USE THE BOOST TO GET THROUGH)? Your good buddy, Ahsen, can grow your audience like a zillion viral videos!]
The sylveon froze mid-step. Grow his audience? Now that was the kind of language Xander recognized. He turned back to Ahsen.
"Elaborate."
At first, Ahsen kept shouting random directions and getting jerked around like a puppet on strings. But it managed to stop shouting and look Xander in the eyes.
[I can show you (A WHOLE NEW WORLD)!] it declared. Static rippled around its nubby hands, turning into several party popper emojis that showered the ground in pixelated confetti. [(HELIX) can link you to another dimension with a shiny new audience waiting for (STREAM VALUE)!]
The porygon-Z vibrated excitedly. Bony aerodactyl wings replaced its arms for a few seconds, before disappearing.
"Another dimension?" Xander tapped his chin in thought. "You mean like those #rifts Paradox keeps talking about."
[Ring-a-ding-ding!] Ahsen's dinging noises were unsettling. [If you (ACCEPT THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS), (HELIX) will link you up to your new audience. You'll have the power of (PRIME GAMING) on your side! (STONKS) rising! UP UP DOWN A A!]
It jerked around seemingly at random again. Pixelated blocks momentarily swallowed up its head. [We're talking millions of people captivated by your (HELIX)-approved (START9)! We'll make you the greatest (VEETUBER) known to man!]
"Veetuber?" Xander tilted his head.
[Using the power of eeveelutions to captivate a spellbound audience,] the porygon-Z said. Its arms turned to skeletal kabutops scythes for a second as it flailed them about excitedly. [It's a (100 PERCENT CERTIFIED GRADE A) plan! All you have to do is (ACCEPT THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS) to proceed!]
A small ball of static trickled out from Ahsen's chest and floated toward Xander. The sylveon eyed it cautiously. This sounded insane. But an entirely new dimension to lavish attention on him was too good to pass up.
"Hang on." He held up a ribbon. "Will I have to give up my Paradigm powers?"
A loud buzzer sounded. [You get a (HELIX BOGO)! Buy one (VEETUBER) power, get (OLDGE) power for free!]
"That's a yes, right?"
Ahsen nodded, before shouting [DOWN!] repeatedly while its body vibrated in place and more static cubes appeared around it.
"All right." Xander approached the porygon-Z. "What's the plan?"
It was still a sketchy proposition, but the fame would surely make it worth his while. Anything to get to the top... and become the world's biggest star.
"You've gotta be shitting me! The Medicis took Freya? How? Why?!"
Sparks littered the middle of the hanger, courtesy of an angry Nikki. She glared at Shredder, who stood opposite her, at the head of the small group of Blightsmuth 'mon that followed him back to the outpost. Yuna floated next to her, along with the others who'd gone to Blightsmuth. Noctum and Valkyrie were over by the computer monitors. Yuna saw Leo by the hanger door, but he kept avoiding her gaze, which made her ectoplasm shrivel.
"Wish I was, but I ain't."
"Freya's tough as nails," Nikki said, mohawk still crackling. "How'd those clowns get the jump on her?"
Shredder nudged Floragato forward. "I only caught the end of it," she muttered, fiddling nervously with her yo-yo. "But I saw a greedent taking her through some big blue rectangle."
Yuna expected the toxtricity to offer another rebuttal, yet Nikki stayed silent.
"Big blue rectangle?" Scarlett tilted her head. "That's kinda vague, don't you think?"
"Want me to read her mind?" Gene tapped his right temple.
"No need." Igneous stepped past the shadowy mewtwo. "That sounds like Minister Charles."
"Charles?" Shredder squinted, then scratched his chin. "Oh, yeah, he went missing a few months ago."
"I saw him in Venish, corrupted by the Empire." The grovlazzle crossed his arms. "And he had a greedent with ties to the Medicis working with him. I doubt it's a coincidence. But Empire or not, what does kidnapping one ursaluna do?"
No one responded, though Yuna could see some agitated looks on the faces of the Blightsmuth folks.
"Ah, shit."
The dragapult wasn't expecting Gene to cut in. He hovered in front of Igneous, pinching his brow.
"It must be Turian."
Everyone exchanged confused looks.
"Isn't a durian a really stinky fruit?" Jade said from her roosting spot by boxes filled with the monks' medical supplies.
"Turian, Birdbrain." The shadowy mewtwo waved Jade off dismissively. "Paradigm Lieutenant. Has always used an ursaluna body despite the species being quite rare within Eternatus." He tapped his chin in thought. "Haven't heard a peep about her in months, so I figured they must be looking for a new body for her."
"And Freya's gonna be that new body?" Nikki's mohawk flared up again. It even flickered red. "Well screw that noise! We gotta rescue her!"
"How?"
The toxtricity whirled on Igneous. He shrugged. "We don't know where she was taken. It could be any Medici encampment. Or she's already been brought into the Qliphoth."
Yuna's tail crinkled. If the transfer was already complete, then they'd have to fight her. "But even if we can't stop this Turian lady, we can still free Freya. Like with Beef—"
"Nein, I'm Biff!" the buzzwole called from near the closed hanger hatches. He was doing push-ups with a nervous-looking Vince on his back.
"Right." Yuna tried to recollect her thoughts. "Um, but you get the idea. And there's my dad and Victini."
"'Cept they're both still out. Same with those two birds," Valkyrie said. The garchomp rolled her eyes when Noctum and Yuna frowned at her. "Sorry." She held her arms up. "Force of habit."
"I don't want Freya to be stuck asleep." Nikki's mohawk kept giving off tiny sparks. Yuna had to back away from her to stop the static from jiggling her ectoplasm. "We have to try something." She looked at Igneous again. "Doesn't your family keep tabs on the Medicis? Get your pops to—"
"I think I've got something!"
Everyone turned to the computer stations in the far corner of the hanger. Cid was pointing at a couple of skorps desperately trying to turn a couple of the larger monitors so that everyone could see. As soon as they did, obnoxious guitar music played from the speakers.
Familiar obnoxious music.
"Whassup #XanFam?"
"Oh no." Yuna's legs shot into her torso. Why was Xander popping up again?
"Wait a sec." Nikki pointed at the screens. "That's Salim Stadium over in Khelifet! The hell's going on here?!"
"It's ya boi Xander comin' at ya from #EnemyTerritory!" The sylveon crouched down and looked around in a poor 'mon's impression of sneaking around. He was dressed in skin-tight camo and wore a beret like he was one of those soldiers in the movies Guzzie would sometimes play in the restaurant.
"Cuz we're simulcasting to #RaDUMBance!" Xander winked at the camera and several pixelated hearts fluttered around his face. "To bring you a #SpecialEdition of #ThreeCheersThreeJeers!"
Pixelated confetti streamed out around Xander while disembodied applauding hands surrounded him. "I know, I know. I can't believe it either. And we're gonna #MixItUp in more ways than one!" He spun around, conjuring a bright pink version of that martini shaker thing Yuna saw Guzzie use at the bar. "By starting with the #Jeers today!"
Red, pixelated thumbs downs surrounded Xander as the camera pulled out for a large holographic "JEER ONE" to flash over his head.
"#JeerOne is goin' to #MeanieQueenie Isola!" Xander stepped aside for a picture in picture to appear. It showed footage of the rapidash in front of a gaggle of reporters.
"Your Eminence, what do you have to say about the Beacon's accusations?"
"Are you really some sort of body snatcher?!"
"Why didn't the Radiant Guard step in to stop Vortex or the invaders in Herbrides?"
"Where's High Inquisitor Justine?!"
The flurry of questions cracked at Isola's normally serene demeanor. Yuna even noticed an eye twitch.
"Everything in that so-called 'expose' is hearsay," Isola said. Her usual sweet tone had a layer of frost in it, judging by Shimmer's ears folding and tails puffing up. "We have arrest warrants issued for Nidoking Sakaki and the staff writers who dared to submit this slander. There are bounties of one million radians for each of them. And we're raising the bounty on his son, Grovyle Chiaki, to 1.5 million radians."
Igneous' tail leaves caught on fire. "This has gotta be fake, right?!" He stormed over to Cid. "He's conjuring this with Paradigm magic or whatever!"
"It's legit, eh!" One skorp declared from the smallest computer terminal. "PNN is showing the press conference, too!"
The grovlazzle fell silent as Xander cut the footage from his stream.
"Ya got that right, #XanFam!" He clapped his ribbons together excitedly. "#CancelCulture's coming over to #RaDUMBance and it's going straight for #MeanieQueenie herself!" The sylveon dashed toward the camera. "Oh, and just between us, that report's #TotesLegit." He winked at the camera and stuck his tongue out playfully. "Which means a #fraud's been keeping #Eternatus imprisoned!"
Xander smushed his cheeks with his ribbons, feigning shock while tons of pixelated shocked faces popped up around him. "It's totes crazy, right?"
The shocked faces went away while Xander twirled around. More pictures in pictures showed swarms of pokémon marching around, carrying a variety of signs, some with cartoonish doodles of Isola full of knives and other pointy objects.
"That's why #CheerOne goes to these brave #RaDUMBance souls!" Xander wiggled his ribbons while pixelated hands doing those "metal horns" Nikki loved so much drifted all around him. "Taking to the streets to tell #MeanieQueenie to buzz off! You totes know they want a real leader!"
The sylveon spun around, conjuring a deoxys plushie between his two right ribbons. "And you can totes get a cuddly little version of the best leader around at a whopping fifty percent off if you use my code 'IHEARTPARADOX' at the #XanFam merch store!"
"Why the hell are we watching this?" Valkyrie snarled. Purple embers licked at her lips. "Shut it off!"
"Leave it on." Gene held his right arm out. "There might be something here."
Xander now had a picture of Vegna up beside him. Several people turned toward the dusknoir, who was braced against the wall. Lightning crackled in his eye.
"#JeerTwo goes to this goober named Vegna." Xander rolled his eyes. "He was one of #MeanieQueenie's minions. A prosecutor. But get this! He was totes #Murderizing peeps who got off innocent against him in court!"
With a wave of his ribbons, Xander summoned another picture in picture. This one had footage of Vegna in the tower of the Crowne Court that Yuna had gone to. The dusknoir flicked his wrist and a flash of golden energy dislodged a portion of the tower that appeared to be under construction. It fell to the ground where it crushed a familiar slurpuff.
Yuna's tail and legs shot into her torso. This didn't make any sense. Vegna denied those allegations. Was he lying?
"Impossible." Electricity rippled through Vegna's body. Yuna swore she saw flickers of gold, too, and the flash of anger on Gene's face told her she wasn't the only one.
"I was in a meeting with the judge," Vegna growled. "This footage is manipulated. Or fabricated."
"But they're playing it on PNN!" the skorp at the tiny computer exclaimed.
"Pix News, too!" called a second skorp beside him.
"Then they were sent manipulated footage," Vegna snarled. This time Yuna was sure his eye turned gold. Everyone else in the room exchanged uneasy looks.
Before anyone could press the matter further, however, Shimmer's whinny caught everyone's attention. "W-Why am I getting jeered?!" His tails puffed out.
Yuna returned her attention to the screen where Xander shook his head at a picture of the ponytales. "#RaDUMBance's twink of a prince is getting jerked around by those #ResistanceLosers like the sad little bottom he is!" He waved his ribbons and generated a Shimmer puppet getting yanked in different directions by holographic phantoms of Gene and... Demerzel?
"The emperor still has one of his partners, right?" Reshiram reminded her. "Guess he's given up trying to blackmail Demerzel and instead painting him as an enemy."
"Now I know what you #RaDUMBance viewers are thinking," Xander continued. Another picture in picture showed Xander and a pre-transformation Shimmer exchanging a very passionate kiss. "Me and Shimmer were #OTP, so why the #Jeer? Well, that's easy!
"I just wanted to screw him and help run #RaDUMBance!" Xander laughed heartily while a big red X crossed Shimmer out of the photo. "But now that the #GrandEmperor has shown me the light, I couldn't give a lick about him!"
He leaped close to the camera and leaned in. "And just between us, dude's a terrible kisser. And he gives lousy head!"
A whimpering Shimmer had slinked onto his belly, burying his head under his forelegs. "Shut it off! Please shut it off!" he begged.
"Don't listen to him." Scarlett slithered behind him while Igneous stepped in front of him as if they could block everyone else's gazes.
Jade tapped her chin with a wing digit. "Y'know, if that body snatcher got control of Shimmer, it would've made him kick Xander to the curb, wouldn't it? So, this is pretty ironic."
Igneous' head leaf caught fire as he glared at the salugia. "Iiiiiiiii'll shut up now." She looked down.
Yuna didn't have anything to offer Shimmer, but seeing him like that brought to mind when he'd focused the whole academy's attention on her at the Crowne Cup's opening ball. And a tiny part of her enjoyed seeing him get a taste of his own medicine, which gave way to waves of guilt.
"Ah! There! That's the intel we need!"
Gene pointed to the monitors, which showed footage of a large stadium. It had banners with crudely drawn fists draped over large screens.
"Medicis?" Valkyrie held up her bladed arms. Noctum shot her a concerned look.
"That's right! These folks took over a whole stadium!" Xander's footage pulled back to reveal that he'd been standing in some sort of broadcasting booth within the stadium the entire time. "In celebration of #RaDUMBance's impending fall, our #GrandEmperor's allies, the #Medicis, are hosting a no-holds-barred tournament open to the public!"
The sylveon curled his ribbons into a big heart. "And #YaBoiXander's gonna be on the mic! I'll be bringing you all the juiciest deets, spiciest hits, and #EpicFails!"
His smile grew bigger. "And the #WinnerWinnerChickenDinner will get a prize package including a ton of #YaBoiXander's merch... and a chance to meet with #GrandEmperor Paradox himself!"
A picture of the deoxys posing proudly flashed on the screen.
"Who knows? You might get the chance to work for him directly, just like #YaBoiXander!"
The monitors then shut up and Gene turned around, rubbing his hands together. "So, we'll have at least one Paradigm Lieutenant out in the open."
"Not to mention Charles if the Medici are involved," Valkyrie added. She was still staring down the monitors like she wanted to attack them. Yuna had a feeling she was going to leap at the chance for this fight.
"That was it?" Yiazmat scoffed. The dragapult corralled a couple of armored kommo-o back toward her. "I hardly see the need to get that invested in some... takeover of a single place in Radiance."
Gene snapped his fingers. "Which is exactly why we don't need to focus all our efforts there." The shadowy mewtwo looked around. "We send a few Aeons and monks to scout around before bringing out the bigger guns." He jerked his head in Valkyrie's direction. "Chompy's ready to murder our computers, so I'd say she just volunteered to be a big gun."
Yuna saw Noctum whispering something to the garchomp, who jabbed his light blue belly with a claw and glared at him. The cosmic charizard's starcloud tail flame shrank.
"We can go over who's who once we have a lay of the land," Gene continued. "That agreeable?"
Nods and approving mumbles followed until the hangar door opened up and Archie lumbered through.
"Alder's got something!" the samurott barked. He stepped aside so the braviary could hover over him.
"Yes, a big something!" Alder's pink feathers flickered excitedly. "One of the monks that was scouting Sinnoh for us says she found a Needle! It's in Jubilife City!"
"Jubilife?" Gene's tail crinkled. "Some of us were just in Sinnoh the other day. How'd we let this slip by?"
"Tch. Not like we've been actively searching for them," Igneous scoffed. He was kneeling beside Shimmer and nudging the despondent ponytales' shoulder.
"Well, our priorities have clearly shifted," Vegna said. His eye buzzed with blue electricity again.
Yuna caught another flash of contempt on Gene's face, but the shadowy mewtwo quickly hid it. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves." He looked at Alder. "Bring that monk back here, get a report from her, and we'll go from there."
More mutters of approval followed, but Yuna stayed silent. Her gaze drifted toward the floor.
Another Needle. The final Needle, if Vegna was to be believed. Once pulled, it would tell them which Sage was missing. And which Sage could be the body snatcher.
Yuna's mind kept racing. Did Necrozma already know about it? Was it not approaching because the empire was guarding the Needle? And what would happen to Vegna if it was pulled? What if Vegna came along and Necrozma was there? Could they recombine? Should they recombine?
"Hey."
A cold hand on Yuna's left shoulder jolted the dragapult to attention. She turned to Nikki.
"You all good?" the toxtricity asked.
"No." Yuna swallowed hard. "There's a lot at stake here." She tried subtly pointing at Vegna with her tail.
"Oh." Nikki blinked. "Ohhhhhh, right." She adjusted her jacket. "All the more reason for me to go with you, then."
"But—"
Nikki put a finger on Yuna's lips. Her ectoplasm rippled.
"I won't fight directly if it's too dangerous. I can do moral support."
If Yuna had a heart, it might've fluttered. Instead, her tail undulated back and forth.
"I'd... like that a lot."
Hopefully, things would be fine. Maybe there would be no Necrozma and Yuna was worrying for nothing. Regardless, she felt better knowing Nikki would be at her side.