her best friend sven told her, when she frantically texted him after it all happened, that robin is what's called a 'carry.' it's a gaming term, apparently, and it means sasky is the chain around her leg and despite that, robin's doing just fine spreading her wings and getting them where they need to go. 

it'll be good for your image! and also maybe you'll learn something. idk. he'd said. 

she's more interested in the latter half and with that in mind, she flashes a pleased smile, gives a bouncing nod, and follows her with kirin in tow. 

"ohhh, i saw some of them when i first headed in. haven't come close to one other than that blue thing we saw before. i looked it up, by the way, and apparently they think it's like, some past form of suicune? or a different suicune?"

robin coello

☉

things are easier for sasky when she doesn't overthink things. when she just has a moment to do those things. so despite her worries and hesitancies about walking back into scary-gnashing-teeth-pupper territory, she trusts robin. and she kind of trusts herself. 

when it happens, though, she just reacts. the walking wake charges and she yells, "KIRIN!" and the wyrdeer is there, psychic connection drifting against her thoughts, seeing the future sasky wants. 

her horns grow a brilliant shade of pink and she rams into the walking wake from the side, right as sasky dives into robin. they miss each other by inches and sasky "oofs," as she splays them in a tangle. 

"kirin, confuse it!" she wheezes from the ground. "robin, are you okay?"

robin coello

☉

she comes nose to nose with robin and has the distant thought of this is just like in my romcoms, but there's little thought to be had there when they're being attacked on all sides. she scrambles up to her feet, looking as grateful as she can at the proffered hand. 

"yeah, kirin's the best baby," she says smartly. a little more distance from the fight sounds like the best course of action so she follows, throwing a worried glance over her shoulder while kirin throws everything into holding off the angry pokemon.

"uh, but won't that trap us in here with them?" she says, heart skittering. that doesn't stop her from doing what robin suggests. she's quick to trust and even quicker to act. so after a couple of precious seconds of fumbling with her pokeballs, she sends out the one she's looking for. 

oleg appears in her arms and upon witnessing the scene, starts beeping in rapid alarm. sasky smacks his face in an attempt to get him to quiet down, even though she knows that's not where the noises come from (where they come from is still a mystery, even, she thinks, to the alien). 

"you gotta get the crystals down, oleg!" he looks at her like she's grown a horn, but he scrambles up her shoulders nonetheless and flings his pudgy little arms out. the stalactites above them shake and shudder and one by one they start to crack.

robin coello

☉

oof. she feels kinda bad about that one. the walking wake can't be bad. she'd be pretty upset too if a lot of people kept wandering around in her home. she looks away, rather quickly, from the blood forming underneath the rocks. 

robin says not to cave them in, but oleg doesn't really understand. knocking down that first one had been so much fun! so now all the rest of them above are shaking and sasky says, "oh gods, robin, run!" 

she slaps her hands down over oleg's eyes and takes off. kirin rams her horns into the standing walking wake's side, throwing it off balance after it had sidestepped sinistea's shadow ball. and then she breaks towards them. the stirrups of her saddle swings. 

"get on kirin! hurry!" she says as she scrambles. oleg pulls at her hair when she lets him go so she can help robin hoist herself up behind her. 

robin coello

☉

she didn't think she'd need to tell her twice, and the frantic look in her eyes does it anyway, but still she's bewildered after robin clambers on. kirin gallops as smoothly as she can with two young women and one oleg on top of her. the rocky terrain doesn't pose as much a challenge for her as it might a horse; she's used to the snowcapped mountains of sinnoh. 

when they finally come to a stop, it's by a stream, and she's panting hard. saskia slides off, blinking because robin's already on the ground. 

she looks from her and back at kirin and then back at robin. 

"you said you don't do psychic types back there," she says and extracts a shaking oleg from her hair, leaving her with quite the windblown rat's nest. he spins around and then falls flat on his back with a sigh. 

"that's okay. i won't make you ride kirin again and oleg will - oleg, stay away from her!" the little alien beeps cheerily up at their savior, wiggles his arms, and then dances in place. 

"ergh. anyway, i think two walking wakes is still, like, crazy anyway. maybe we don't need to embellish too much," she says with a nervous laugh. 

after all, she doesn't want anyone thinking she's more competent than she actually is. 

robin coello

☉