((Hello hi Goat here. Gonna be making a megapost detailing several turns.))
From the moment she first laid her eyes on Eternatus Darkwhite—good gravy, what a name—Astrid knew the battle would be rough. And indeed it was.
Ducking and dodging and weaving between attack after attack after attack, she kept as close to Icetales’ welcoming mists as possible. Through him and his ability, she could cloak herself with her own. But it would only get her so far; a particular blast from Ho-Oh blanketed the earth inches from where she’d been standing a moment prior, hardly giving her the chance to jump away yet again. She couldn’t continue like this!
Jumping across the sands, she briefly made eye contact with Cabot, who was whipping up a sandstorm. His target was clear and his eyes said the same thing she was thinking: Ho-Oh had to go, preferably no later than right now.
It had worked on Starr. Why wouldn’t it work here? As jagged stones coalesced around her friend’s body, she knew what to do. She reached out, breathed in, and
pulled.
The feeling was no less uncomfortable than before. It spread from her paw to her tails, then up her spine, then into her brain, where everything became muddy, and very briefly, her only concern in the whole world…
…was Cabot! He erupted like dynamite from the sands, seemingly not slowed down at all (on the contrary, her paws couldn’t get a grip on this damned terrain). Star-struck, she knew what was coming before his attack landed on the helpless bird: way too much damage. Unlike with Starr, Astrid found it in herself to speak this time. “Ha haaa! Woo! Go Cabot!” She jumped up and down in delight, possessed. The odd feeling grew stronger than before, “Goooo Cabot! Go—g—,” and then, suddenly, it was way too much. The weight on her shoulders was beyond what she could bear on a flat surface, let alone the unstable earth below.
Wheezing for air, she glanced around frantically. What had she been saying? She’d—Cabot!
Ho-Oh’s pained shriek filled the air, prompting Astrid to take notice of the stone embedded in its feathers. And then she looked at her paw, and an uncomfortably intoxicating thought occurred to her: this was now her power as well. Her responsibility. Her right.
She did not have time to consider what she wanted, because the weight on her shoulders was too great. So, she ran forth, pulled from within, and prepared to unleash.
…But then she saw Brisa, and at the last moment, when that horrible taste built up in her throat and her Radiance began its ascent, she couldn’t do it. She thought of a frozen forest like Truffle had said, where snow fell gently and where her family—no, a false projection of what they should’ve been—waited for her in peace. The final Stored Power got off without a hitch, not a single ounce of Radiance infused within it. And she realized she was fine. Still standing. Still in the battle.
That… was wayyyy too close. She needed to focus. Focus on…
“Darkwhite! Darkwhiiite!” Her cries were drowned out by the raging chaos, but maybe, just maybe, if she could add to the chorus of her teammates, they could get through.
“Sword!! You mean something to us!”
It was working. And when Sword struck back, and the Eternatus showed its first sign of vulnerability, Astrid knew. One more strike was all it would take.
“Come on, Astrid!” cried Brisa, eyes bright with Radiance and battle-joy,
“Let's show her what we're fuckin' made of!”
“Yeah!!” Astrid cried back. She didn’t have to think about it this time; Brisa was too damn strong not to do this. She raised her paw again, and this time, the feeling was far more natural. Still uncomfortable, but far easier to bear when she knew what she could do with it. Down her leg, her tails, spine, neck, brain, and then—
And then just… Brisa.
Nothing else. No background, no sand dunes, no sky, no unconscious Ho-Oh, no Team Spectrum. Nothing like before. Just her and Brisa and the thing Brisa had her sights set on, and oh what a poor fate that would be. Astrid couldn’t find it in herself to be amazed, or react at all. Through the haze, through the blinding, tyrannical will of her Inspiration, she could only see one outcome left on the table.
Brisa said:
“Trust me! Trust me like I trust you! PLEASE!”
Brisa went all out every time she fought. Brisa gave this team everything she had. Brisa gave Astrid strength. How could Astrid do any less?
How could Astrid listen to Brisa’s warnings? Icetales’? Truffle’s? How
could she? She had to give it everything she had. She, she—
Bounding forth amidst raining fire and shooting stones and malevolent, Radiance-infused electricity, she froze the sand before her and raced forward, uninhibited. The weight on her shoulders converted to psychic energy that manifested around her, and in one final motion, she leaped, fully understanding the extent she was about to fail her friend.
Or so she thought.
As she leaped for the final blow, with victory guaranteed, everything fell apart. The last thing she remembered before everything went dark was the crippling realization that Brisa would not be able to dodge in time. And despite how quickly it all ended, the sheer split-second horror that ripped into her chest guaranteed an uneasy slumber.
