"Asuka! Hang in there!"
Yu Zhou shouted urgently when he saw Asuka wobbling in midair, about to lose consciousness.
"Asuka, wake up!"
Even Daigo grew anxious — if Asuka fell now, he would crash straight into the two of them flying below.
"Se… senpai… zzzZZZ…"
Asuka mumbled weakly before going completely limp, falling together with the still-crying Bao-on.
Yu Zhou: "…"
Daigo: "…"
"Yu Zhou-kun, hurry— no, catch Asuka!"
Daigo, following behind, shouted in panic.
"You catch him!"
Yu Zhou, being in his Flight Type form and much faster, swiftly dodged to the side, avoiding both Asuka and Bao-on as they plummeted.
With a heavy boom!, Asuka — still holding onto Bao-on — crashed directly into Daigo.
Caught off guard, Daigo was knocked flying, tumbling down toward the ground.
"Daigo!"
Yu Zhou dove after him immediately — he couldn't just leave his senior like that.
But Bao-on's endless crying still filled the air, and the sound made Yu Zhou's head spin. Even he felt the pull of sleep creeping in.
"No… I can't fall asleep now. If I do, it's over."
He never imagined that such a small, seemingly harmless monster could push him to this point. Bao-on wasn't even aggressive — but its hypnotic cries were unbearable.
"Shut up already!!"
With his last bit of focus, Yu Zhou dove down toward Asuka and Bao-on, grabbed the little monster, and — using a spinning Thomas-style throw — hurled it high into the sky.
"Sorry," he muttered. "That was a bit rough."
Shaking his head to stay awake, he turned and flew toward the falling Asuka.
While diving, he tossed out the Charija Capsule, summoning Dika once again. "Dika, save Daigo!" he commanded.
Receiving the order, Dika immediately accelerated toward Daigo's position.
Yu Zhou caught Asuka midair, slowing his fall before gently landing on the ground. Moments later, Dika descended beside them, holding Daigo safely.
Asuka, however, was still completely asleep.
"Daigo, are you alright?" Yu Zhou asked.
"I'm fine," Daigo replied, shaking his head. "I've been through worse."
He glanced at the snoring Asuka. "But Asuka… he's completely out cold."
"Let him rest for a bit," Yu Zhou sighed. "That kid's too careless sometimes."
He thought for a moment, then continued, "Alright, Daigo — stay here and watch over Asuka. I'll go with Dika to check on Bao-on. I don't know where I threw it."
Leaving Daigo behind was the best choice. If Asuka's transformation timed out and he reverted to human form, someone needed to be there to make sure he was safe.
And since Bao-on's cries could put him to sleep again, bringing Dika — who wasn't affected — was the safest option.
"No problem," Daigo nodded.
— — —
Up in the sky, Yu Zhou and Dika searched the clouds.
"Where did it end up?" Yu Zhou muttered, scratching his head. "That thing's huge. Even if I threw it hard, it shouldn't just disappear."
If Bao-on had hit the ground, they would've heard it.
But since the creature originally fell from outer space to Earth, maybe being thrown that high didn't even faze it.
"Cha!"
Dika suddenly called out, pointing toward a cloud nearby.
Yu Zhou followed his gaze — the white cloud had a large hole in it, with wisps of vapor still drifting apart.
"Looks like I threw Bao-on right through that cloud," Yu Zhou analysed. "It probably went even higher."
"Cha!"
Dika nodded seriously, not quite understanding Yu Zhou's reasoning, but agreeing anyway.
Following the trail, they flew higher and higher — until they broke through Earth's atmosphere. Still, no sign of Bao-on.
"Don't tell me… I actually threw it out of Earth?"
Yu Zhou blinked. "I must've overdone it…"
Sure enough, floating not far from an orbiting satellite, they found Bao-on — fast asleep, snoring gently in the void of space.
"You've got to be kidding me…" Yu Zhou sighed helplessly. "This little pig just cries and sleeps… cries and sleeps… How lazy can one monster be?"
At this point, he was too tired to even mock it properly.
"How does a species like this even survive?" he muttered. Then after a pause, he added, "Maybe that hypnosis power is the only reason it hasn't gone extinct."
It made sense — that ability alone was an incredible defense mechanism.
If anything threatened it, all it had to do was cry, and everyone around would fall asleep. Even Yu Zhou could barely handle it.
"Alright," he said at last, "let's send it away."
He turned to Dika. "Send Bao-on far enough that it can't fall back to Earth."
But as Dika floated toward Bao-on, Yu Zhou suddenly noticed something was off.
"Wait… what are you doing—!?"
To his horror, Dika raised his hands, gathering energy for a light beam.
He wasn't sending Bao-on away — he was about to blast it away.
"Stop!!"
Yu Zhou rushed forward and stopped him just in time. He exhaled in relief. "Man… I really didn't learn my lesson, did I?"
Clearly, he still needed to be very precise when giving Dika instructions. Otherwise, "sending it away" could easily turn into "sending it to heaven."
He sighed, then corrected himself. "Dika, use both hands to gently carry Bao-on and send it beyond the galaxy. Be careful not to hurt it."
Now that was a detailed command.
Dika nodded obediently, then followed the order — holding Bao-on softly in his hands and slowly flying off toward the depths of space.
— — —
By the time Yu Zhou and Dika returned to Earth, both Daigo and Asuka had reverted to their human forms.
Asuka was still lying flat on the ground, snoring loudly — and drooling.
Yu Zhou recalled Dika back into the capsule, cancelling his transformation, then walked over.
"Asuka's under deep hypnosis," Daigo explained. "No matter what I do, he won't wake up."
"It's fine. Let me handle it."
Yu Zhou motioned for Daigo to step back.
Then, from his dimensional bracelet, he pulled out… a frying pan. And a hammer.
Placing the frying pan close to Asuka's ear, Yu Zhou took a deep breath — and swung the hammer down.
CLAAAANG!!!!