this time, she went as dr. monday amsel — a scientist who had requested a league escort for her research. the ranger would find that she was fairly familiar with the realm, and quite ready to board a celesteela to the moon above.[break][break]

but after they’d arrived on the lunar surface, there was decidedly less direction to what they were doing. no research equipment came out of the bag over her shoulders. no notes or photos taken.[break][break]

they were sightseeing.[break][break]

”i love it here,” she told saskia volosenkova as she watched the explosions across the cratered terrain, a baby celesteela nestled in her arms like an infant.[break][break]

maybe this will be our home.[break][break]

but this moon had already been its home, and little did she know, it was leading them back to the nest where she’d stolen it from last time.[break][break]

suddenly, she tripped, and quickly turned the little celesteela away protectively as she peered down to see a body.[break][break]

”a megalopolan!” she alerted, watching carefully only to see them start to rise.[break][break]

”shit.”[break][break]

she then had the quick reflex to kick them in the head. it was a suspiciously solid hit for such a strange nerd, perhaps.[break][break]

after the body stilled a moment, however, it began to stand again, causing her to take some steps back.[break][break]

”they’re possessed!” she recoiled, remembering the toxic chains from the cave.[break][break]

33 allow a celesteela or kartana that you own to guide you safely through the realm, or have them encounter previous members of their kind that believe it to have betrayed them.[break][break]

35 after reaching the moon, encounter megalopolan bodies that are being parasitically controlled by CELESTEELA LEECH SEEDS. they are hostile and will attempt to spread the LEECH SEED onto you and your pokemon.

[attr="class","ooc"]saskia volosenkova [break]

dr. monday amsel - what a cool name! - seems so super duper qualified to be here, and that makes sasky feel a heck of a lot better about being here in the first place. she'd been away from her post, out answering a call down in slateport of all places, when the kyurem struck near her home, and she hasn't forgiven herself for not being there.

but part of her knows she wouldn't have been ready for that type of combat regardless. she still hasn't gotten a handle on maugrim and her progress with training her other pokemon has been so slow.

she has a few wild expeditions under her belt, but the last few were...well, she'd rather not think about them.

"it's really so pretty," sasky says, kind of agreeing, because she loves the sight, but she doesn't really love the crazy ultra beast pokemon or the way half the things in this dimension seem to want them dead. 

case in point - monday reacts to the rotted skeleton with complete and utter badassery while saskia and kirin (her wyrdeer) stumble back, wide-eyed. the deer snorts and stamps her feet. another crawling ghoul's skull gets completely caved in by her stomping. 

plink - plink - plink. she turns, hair whipping against her cheeks, and then reaches, still wide-eyed, to tug on monday's shirt sleeve.

"um doctor whatisthatisthatastorm?"

Lulu Flint

34 encounter a CELESTIAL STORM of emerald steel, metal, and bamboo in ultra crater's realm or on the moon. these storms raze the terrain and tear apart anything caught within it. however, should you get to the storm's core, one can find a GRASSIUM Z-CRYSTAL that becomes permanently defunct once the storm ends.

☉

getting a better look, she realized that the megalopolan corpse was being reanimated by something else. not alien chains; not lost souls. there were vines.[break][break]

”watch out. it’s the celesteela’s leech seed,” she realized aloud, taking more steps back too. her eyes scanned for the culprit, landing on familiar silhouettes.[break][break]

she was about to mention them when her shirt was grabbed onto. ”hm?”[break][break]

”ow!”[break][break]

she was hit in the head with bamboo. as she looked down at it, she briefly recalled a scene from within the tree at sootopolis.[break][break]

then pieces of it fell all over the ground like rain, along with emerald sparkles of metal. one cut across her cheek and she gasped.[break][break]

”here! take the baby.” she shoved the celesteela towards saskia, who seemed unprepared for whatever was headed their way.[break][break]

lulu reached for pokeballs. out came a steelix and an illumina alakazam.[break][break]

”steelix, give us some cover!” she called up at the grimacing titan, and it did so, lowering its head to act as a sort of shield for them. to her glowing alakazam, she commanded, ”do what you can to keep us safe.”[break][break]

it would start with a reflect that shimmered around them, slashing the painfulness of what still managed to strike them.[break][break]

”let’s move towards the center!” she told the ranger over the storm. she wanted to see if there was something interesting causing it.[break][break]

🗺️ use an illumina or shadow pokemon in an advantageous way.

[attr="class","ooc"]saskia volosenkova [break]

celesteela leech seed? can make zombie monsters? she eeps and dances away from the tangle of vines, gaze still fixed on the horizon and encroaching storm. so she's caught a little off guard when she's told to hold a BABY and her fingers fumble. the baby doesn't fall, but it's a celesteela!

and monday just told her their leech seed turns people into zombies! she doesn't want to hold the baby. she wants to drop the baby.

but monday is a doctor, so she must be qualified to know which celesteela's leech seeds can turn people into zombies and which celesteela's leech seeds are, like, normal. still, that doesn't stop her from staring down with narrowed eyes at the thing, as though to say, try me. 

so help her gods, she will chuck the baby if it starts to act funky.

kirin helps where she can, trotting alongside monday's pokemon with psychic horns ablaze, cutting down any stringent items that manage to poke holes in their defenses. the storm thickens, and it gets worse before it gets better.

but suddenly they walk through the last barrier and they're surrounded by warm air; on all sides are the winds, blowing debris. then it stops. and at the center, a green crystal pales. 

"oh! i read up on those recently. aren't they t-crystals?" t for tera? like tera crystals?

that doesn't sound right.

Lulu Flint

☉

the baby smiled up at saskia, a true runt of an infant. why was it so small? how was it even alive? a true mystery.[break][break]

when they made it to the center, and saskia asked about t-crystals, lulu eyed her incredulously. ”you are a ranger, right?” between her intimidation in the face of threats, and this, lulu suspected she must be new to the job if so.[break][break]

when the storm began to fade, she picked up the emerald z-crystal and assessed it. ”it’s a kind of z-crystal – but it won’t work, now. it’s power is used up. maybe it caused the storm.”[break][break]

there was nothing else there. she collected the crystal into a bag for further research. she returned her alakazam and steelix, and they moved on.[break][break]

along the way, they passed by the shed remnants of celesteela. she picked up one of the smaller arms.[break][break]

”i wonder if they shed these naturally, or if it was from a struggle with the megalopolans…”[break][break]

suddenly, a flamethrower shot out of the end of the arm, and the scientist went wide-eyed with surprise.[break][break]

36 discover the amputated/separated arms of CELESTEELA. whether they are shed, cut, or culled from dead CELESTEELA is up to you. smaller arms can be used as flamethrowers to help combat threats as they expel burning gas.

[attr="class","ooc"]saskia volosenkova [break]

oop, that hurts. she wants to claim that she just got out of the academy, but it's been over a year. it's not her fault though! not her fault hoenn went all crazy in .2 seconds and she's still catching up. she only got here after the bubble went down.

z-crystals and tera and now dynamax? how's she supposed to keep up?

she's not book-smart. she's not fact-smart. she can, however, tell you what's on the baby celesteela's mind right now. she can tell you that kirin's thinking of the best place to discreetly put her droppings (if it's worth the risk of leech seed ((it's not))). if she tries really hard, she can usually tell if you're lying.

she can see truths and find marvels in the world. she just can't put pen to paper. 

and that doesn't seem to do her any good. not when she freezes up in the face of danger. her shoulders sag. she looks away, swaddling little baby close. 

monday muses and she looks down at the bundle of joy in her arms. "well, maybe you'll find out if she sheds. if they really grow up to become those big ones, i think they gotta. she looks like a burrito and the big ones don't."

Lulu Flint

☉

as she lowered the makeshift flamethrower, its fire died again.[break][break]

her eyebrow quirked. ”she?” yet another odd thing for a ranger to say of a seemingly genderless specimen.[break][break]

nonetheless, ”hm. i suppose that’s true…” but she did not see the same arms on the baby. did they shed throughout their lives? or was it the result of an attack, after all?[break][break]

they continued their exploration, the celesteela baby leading them in the direction of its old nest once more. on the way, however, something new was discovered.

the entrance of a cave lied ahead, and anxiety stirred as she wondered: were there tera crystals there too?[break][break]

”we should check out that cave,” she suggested, nodding in its direction.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]saskia volosenkova [break]

"yeah, why not?" she says with a grin as she tickles the celesteela's little belly, her previous fear of zombie leech seeds completely forgotten. "him's just a little guy."

a little guy with a pretty damn good internal compass. kirin is still on edge - she always is when they come here - but she keeps a level head. and that, in turn, makes sasky feel a little more confident about what they're doing. 

even the cave isn't as daunting, even if it's dark and creepy. kirin's horns glow a soft pink with psychic energy, leading their way. metal roots hang down from above and sasky stops to poke at one. 

"oh! i think these connect to the big celesteela above."

Lulu Flint

37 explore underground caverns and tunnels within the realm or on the moon. sabotage INGRAINED celesteela for safer passage above, or encounter swarms of younger KARTANA.

☉

she was used to this, really. when people from outside the labs ventured in and inevitably met penrose wandering, they often identified the poipole as a he or she. maybe it was just the natural thing for humans to do.[break][break]

now the celesteela was a apparently a him. she blinked and said nothing.[break][break]

as they entered the cave, her eyes caught for a moment on the wyrdeer that the ranger had brought along, watching the way its antlers glowed with ancient psychic power. somehow, the shape of them felt reminiscent of arceus.[break][break]

her focus soon returned to their surroundings. she collected soil samples, but saw no tera crystals present. it was somewhat a relief.[break][break]

when saskia pointed to the roots above, she drew another pokeball from her hip and released a houndoom. she pointed to the ceiling. ”burn the roots.”[break][break]

the dog’s inferno was unleashed from its maw, joined by the fire from the celesteela arm she held up. the burns the ultra beasts suffered would mean they would be incapacitated by the time they emerged from the cave again, allowing them safer passage.[break][break]

”i have what i need. let’s head back.”[break][break]

MiI9pfa_

[attr="class","ooc"]saskia volosenkova [break]

the baby celesteela does not seem bothered in the slightest by the fact that its elders are having their roots burned. the earth rumbles above them and sasky wonders if they're imploding or if they're taking off like rockets. 

oh, maybe that's what happens when they randomly take off. something burns their bottoms and they feel the need to yeet into the air. that's nicer, at least, than thinking monday is offhandedly just making them explode.

"oh, okay," she says, blinking. wow. this mission was way easier than the ones she'd done in the past! 

she's gonna have to make sure she gets put on monday's team again. 

Lulu Flint
FWtDEodC

☉