"Tired."

You look it, too. Beneath shoddily-wrapped bandages, the bags under your eyes run deep. Between what happened with the Toxic Chain, the Prismatic Penitentiary, and everything thereafter, you've been burning too hot for too long with too little rest. You're like... You're like, uh... A candle, or an engine, or, or a wildfire, or... Or, something like that.

You breathe a sigh as you close your eyes. Is this how she feels all the time? Because you feel like complete shit.

"But I'll live."

Can't die yet. Too much left to do. Too many people to kill. Too many people to avenge. Too many people to liberate from their chains. Too many people left to cast down from their thrones. Too many, too, too too many.

In that sense, this trip to the Ultra Plant is a welcome diversion. You reach down and tap a Pokeball, allowing your Xurkitree to emerge. For a moment, you glance over to it, as though trying to gauge reaction. Is it happy to return home? Or does it dread coming back after being away for so long? No matter how long you stare, you can't make out any emotion upon its faceless face. So, with a shrug of your shoulders and a shake of your head, you follow along behind Lulu, and it follows behind you.

"How about you? Are you holding up alright?"

---

Lulu Flint

You can't say you remember seeing any spacecraft during your first few trips to the Ultra Plant. No, all that you, howard slayte and Grigori Sokolov managed to find were dead factories, dying reactors, and Regieleki. But if anyone would know how to find what you're looking for, then surely it would be a native?

"Let's find out."

You tap the Ultra Beast twice on its twisting arms, before pointing forward.

"Alright, buddy, take us to a spaceship!"

The Xurkitree coils its head down to look at you. As though you're an freshly bought ice cream that it just dropped on the pavement. As though you're a piece of chewing gum it just stepped on it. As though you're a pebble that was stuck in its shoe. Well, that was a wash, huh? Nothing for it. You've always had trouble with your Ultra Beasts. Sure, you can't understand your Paradoxes, but you can't even hear your Ultra Beasts. Guess you'll just have to rough it out and--

With a shrug of cables and a low buzz like a long sigh, the Xurkitree slumped its bulb forward and began to chart a course, heading deeper into the ravine.

You glance over to Lulu, offer a shrug of your own, and follow.

---

Lulu Flint
35 allow a stakataka or xurkitree 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.

"He deserves a lot more than that." You murmur, fist clenching into a ball. "More than I could give him."

He killed in cold blood, and you couldn't even hit him once in response. No, in fact, it was Team Rocket who was punished, beaten back by Palkia's shard for daring to stand up to the League. But despite her intervening to protect him, illeana reyes and Greyson Connors are distinct in your mind. Two crimes to be punished separately. One, for revenge. One, to avenge. And that's precisely the problem, isn't it?

"If you're offering to help, then I'm more than happy, it's just... Well, my schedule is cramped, is all."

So many Leaguers, so little time. It'd be easier if you could burn the whole thing to the ground in one fell swoop. Alas, you can't, so you're stuck trying to pull it apart brick by brick, and the mortar is doing you no favours.

"But yeah, I'm up for it."

---

Lulu Flint

"I've had worse tattoos."

You pause, as though expecting a polite chuckle that you know isn't coming. You wish you could say you were fully joking, though. One of the benefits of being burnt from head to toe is that it hides a particularly ill-advised tramp stamp you got back in the 2000s. Which is a very thin silver lining for a very LARGE cloud. But, y'know. Got to take 'em where you can get 'em.

After giving it a second, you carry on. Can't let the awkward silence run too long. Arceus knows things are weird enough between you as is.

"...But to answer your question: It feels fine? Fine by me standards, anyway. The bronzey parts burn like hell when I actually use it, but that seems par for the course when it comes to metal getting hot."

Idly, you raise your arm. Underneath your skin of bandages, orichalchum veins and arteries draw patterns upon your blackened flesh. It raises so many questions, and you're equipped to answer so few of them. "How"? How is easy. Why? Why is much, much harder.

"Not that I'm an expert or anything." You lower your arm, burying your hand in your jacket pocket as you walk along. "Nomi took a look at it, though, so maybe she--"

You're interrupted by a loud crack of static from your Xurkitree, which cuts both your sentence and your train of thought short. Once the irritation from the harsh sound fades, you look over to your Ultra Beast as its long hand points upwards, toward a great husk of metal trapped within a mess of wires. It's a strange sight, like seeing a Forretress stuck in a Spidop's web. Yet, of all the strange sights you've encountered in the Ultra Plant, from living buildings to electric titans, this is the one that most resembles a spacecraft. Maybe not a functional one, and maybe not an intact one, but definitely a spacecraft.

"Jackpot."

---

Lulu Flint
24 encounter a crashed spacecraft that has been overwhelmed by xurkitree wiring; inside, thick black cords obscure rooms, stairs, and more.

"SHIT!"

As the wire lashes out, you duck down, the cable narrowly missing your head, but successfully knocking off your hat. Shooting back up, your first reaction is to mutter a curse under your breath. Shit, dude. Nothing can ever just be easy, can it? No bundle of wires can ever just be that. They've always got to have a Xurkitree in there! Fucking hell...

The second thing you do is immediately reclaim your hat, returning it to your head. Unfortunately, the newly made dent on it makes it an uncomfortable fit, but hey, not much choice, is there? It's this, or bald, and you'd rather shoot yourself than be bald.

Third, last, and certainly not least, you turn to your own Xurkitree with wide, annoyed eyes.

"Hey, HEY! GET THEM TO KNOCK IT OFF!"

Your Xurkitree, as usual, stands there for a moment. After that, though, it delivers a slight shake of its bulb before stepping forward. Turning itself up towards the tangled spaceship, it communicates with its peers... Or at least, you think it does. Hard to tell. It doesn't make any noise, but you hope that--

THWACK! Another Power Whip flies out, this one catching your Xurkitree by the body and sending it flying into the nearby wall. And that? That won't fly with you.

"Oh, you son of a..." You growl, before glancing over to Lulu and her Pokemon. "HEY, ALAKAZAM! FUCK THAT GUY UP!"

---

Lulu Flint

"Take care of it?"

The fuck? If she'd asked you to beat the shit out of the Xurkitree, you'd understand, but how in the hell are you supposed to "take care" of acid on wires? What do you look like, a janitor? Don't answer that.

"Okay, I'll take care of it!"

The things you do for love... Grabbing a Pokeball from your belt, you toss out your Quagsire, who lands with a wet plop and a stupid smile. Look, he wasn't your first choice, alright? But all the so-called "better" options at your disposal don't mix well with electricity, so number seven will just have to do.

"Ooooo! Hello Mr Shreply! What fun adventures are we Zeppling on today?"

"Quagsire! Wash off that purple gunk!"

"Okay Dokay!"

For a moment, the curious creature begins to swell, its cheeks puffing up to massive size as its body seems to bloat. Then, in a slightly off-putting spectacle, it lets out a torrent of Muddy Water, cleaning off all the poison and replacing it with a new layer of muck. Ech. Well, mission accomplished? Lulu just said she wanted a spaceship, she never said she wanted a clean one. You're basically in the clear!

...She better not yell at you for this.

---

Lulu Flint

The next few seconds are fairly hectic, and a lot happens all at once. Frankly, you're not even sure what all happened during it. But you do know what your train of thought was, and it goes a little something like this:

Uh oh.

Uh oh...!

UH OH!

Oops.

As Lulu rushed past you without so much as a word, you were left alone. Well, except for Quagsire. And your Xurkitree. And the other Xurkitree, who seemed none too pleased to have their deathly torpor interrupted. Yet, despite the doubtlessly painful assbeating that was awaiting you, your mind was elsewhere. A strange and unusual place, hard to describe, but best summarised by one question.

"...Quagsire, did I fuck that up?"

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Yeppers peppers!"

"Damn."

---

Lulu Flint