Looking at Honeybun's shell that had changed color to a rich gold, Moon couldn't help but pause for a moment.
"Did you... did you change your shell during that last moment?"
Without any command from Moon, in the instant of crisis, Honeybun had chosen to switch his transformation, dropping the speed form and shifting back to his defensive gold shell precisely when the serpent's constriction threatened to crush it. The near-impenetrable armor had reformed, and the serpent's crushing pressure, which could have shattered the jade shell, had met the gold fortress instead.
Moon stared without blinking.
He adapted on its own mid-crisis, he made the call to swap forms and prioritize defense. Could he have survived on his own, even without my Raiju? Did he complete the transformation in time to tank the pressure, and my attack was just insurance? Or did my intervention buy him the exact window he needed to finish the shift?
