their companionship is steeped in the trauma they've shared on these journeys and so she wordlessly slumps into monday when they depart. an ache riddles holes in her heart, growing with every beat, and when she squeezes her eyes shut, she doesn't notice she's leaking tears.

it's when monday tells her the moon is gone that she finally draws back and looks up into that blank sky.

"i...we didn't mean to," she says thickly, almost overcome. oleg beeps a melancholy tune in her arms. "the lunala. was that its home? it was so hurt...and we - and we, oh gods, what did we do?"

Lulu Flint

24 involve themes of romance, loss, or forgetfulness in some way. this can manifest in geyser steam, gas or plants that can evoke emotions.

☉

she has her go-goggles on and she's ready to tackle the world. except not at all. except not even close. kirin was accompanying her up the side of mt. chimney. they were supposed to be measuring the soot levels and weather changes of the surrounding area and it's only because of kirin's psychic inclination that she had the split second to scurry to the side of the rock face and avoid getting blasted off the side of the mountain.

"HOENN!" she shouts into the wind. "can't you chill for like, FIVE MINUTES?" but her howls are to no one and nothing. 

saskia draws her jacket tighter around herself, tucking her hands into her hood to bring it over her face. so it must be a startling sight to sasha when the ranger emerges from the sandstorm, bright red goggles like a mothman's eyes and a large horned beast at her side.

Sasha Huang

☉

wait, what? wait, WHATTTT? fate gave her a partner who's not gonna just nod and say, wow that's cool! when she talks about how incredible lichen is?

"what? nononono, not boring at all! ever! okay, so people like birds, right? they kinda understand it when i say birds, but really did you know there are over twenty thousand species of lichen? like, six whole percent of the earth is supposedly covered by it?

"not a whole lot of people think it's cool when you're like 'oh, moss? that's my jam. moss and algae and fungi.'"

porter holmes
we're perfect

☉

sometimes she worried that her only friend in the world was going to be sven. sure, she'd met plenty of other people in the rangers and got along with them just fine, but no one came close to knowing her like sven did. but now, with a belly full of hot chocolate and an earful of pleasant conversation, she thinks, maybe i found it. 

"there's lots to do in oldale after the kyurem attack. we should do some stuff around there, mimi!"

that being said, alarm lights up in her face when robin says she doesn't have a home. that she just camps out in places?! which, sure, a lot of traveling trainers used to do that back in the day, but the region is full of scaries!

"robin, my gosh, you can stay at my place if you ever need." her family wouldn't mind. heck, they'd probably stuff her full of their cooking and insist she stay. 

but that sheds light on why they're really here and saskia's eyes widen. she doesn't mind scary things, but her history with scary things is watching b-rated old timey horror movies with sven. 

"OH! that reminds me. this little guy reminded me of you, but anyway, open it after the story please 'cause i really wanna hear it and i think the ghosts want you to tell it too." she rolls out the safari ball she'd brought with her towards robin and claps her hands together excitedly. 

robin coello Mimi Hirose

☉

it's so powerful. it's like nothing she's ever seen before. she's seen the aftermath of titans fighting: the scar in the earth just outside her home, cleaved by an otherworldly dragon, but this is different than hearing about it secondhand. different than seeing the devastation. 

oleg's whole body shudders and saskia cuddles him close, even as psychic energy zips around her and makes her feel like all her veins are vibrating. 

"i got you, buddy. not too much, not too much." she curses herself for not being stronger and when monday changes plans, they have no choice but to make their exit. 

the creature above them screeches. in frustration? in pain? she has no idea, but both hurt her heart as she scrambles up the celesteela's side. her eyes are red and puffy from the smog and she coughs, but her breath is stolen from her when she sees the other celesteela.

"they're...they're all leaving." did we do this? 

all at once the light surrounding oleg fades and he collapses in sasky's arms. she cradles him close and looks at monday. "can - can you fly us through all that?"

Lulu Flint

☉

"oh wow, so you're baby rangering," saskia says, slightly awed. with everything that's been going on in the region lately, it feels like there's always more work to be done and not enough hands. with the bubble gone, a lot of folks are getting out of dodge and those who are staying have their hands full with their own lives, nevermind all the risks that come with joining up with the rangers. 

"that's awesome! us girlies gotta stick together." she struggles to keep her mouth shut and let other people have the spotlight, but it's made easier with a hot cup of chocolate in her hands. yum, she hums to herself and takes a big, scalding gulp. 

it's sugary and delightful and a half-melted marshmallow oozes between her chompers. morena rubs up against her leg in an attempt to be cute and get some for herself, but noooo chocolate for puppyveelutions. 

she gets very affronted when sinistea gets a treat and not her, but sasky shushes her indignant chuffs. 

"work, work, work," she says with an exaggerated sigh and toothy smile. "but somebody's gotta take those double shifts, y'know? i thought i'd have some more time to do some research, but it's so hard to focus on anything when we've got something so cool like area zero to stomp around in. have you seen some of the pokemon there? mega cool."

like scream tail. that bouncy ball will be hers one day

robin coello Mimi Hirose

☉

more pokemon come at monday's beck and call and saskia fumbles with the pokeballs at her hip. she manages to unclasp one of the balls, but it rolls out of her sweaty palm and would have rolled down the other side of the moon if oleg wasn't so quick to act. 

psychic and ghost. what would hurt it? dark?! she's not a dark-type trainer! she doesn't have a dark-type pokemon. like, maugrim, she's pretty sure knows a dark-type move, but he'll only end up making things worse because there's no way he's listening to her up here on the freaking moon!!!

dogs aren't allowed on the moon!

"okay, we can do something about that though," she calls out and oleg giddily clasps his nubby hands together. with the lunala wholly distracted by the real threat to it, it doesn't sense the psychic energy wrapping around it until it's too late. 

power split makes shockwaves of energy radiate off of oleg and he beeps feverishly. sasky worries he might overload himself by taking on too much in that little baby body of his, but he holds fast, draining the lunala as it tries to power up its next move. 

"GET IT MONDAY, PLEASE, OLEG CAN'T HOLD THIS FOR VERY LONG!"

Lulu Flint

☉

she nearly squeals with excitement. it's like something out of an action movie. the grizzled main character helps out some wayward spunky soul and they form the cutest, dumbest connection ever over some ice cream. oh, it almost doesn't feel real.

that could be the adrenaline and near-death experience talking, but shhhh. 

a couple heads turn their way when they walk in. of course they do. she smells like she just walked out of the pits of hell. but nonetheless, her cheery smile and confidence is infectious. she orders a double scoop of cotton candy and bubblegum ice cream for herself and gestures animatedly at king. 

"sundae, milkshake, quintuple scoop, whatever! this guy gets whatever he wants for basically being a superhero."

KING WAYLAND

☉

and off the wrong foot they begin. oleg opts to not listen to her in the slightest and tries out his newest trick - holding his arms out at his sides, using kinetic force, and spinning himself like a helicopter until velocity sends him careening into the nearest object.

which happens to be a passerby ghost. now, sasky isn't into ghost-types as a trainer herself, but the yamask goes flying several yards away and collapses on the ground. 

and it's not like she can leave it...

"oleg, honey..." she starts as she unclips a ball and thunks it on the yamask's head.

MOD
catching yamask

☉

oleg does some stretches to prepare for their trek. sasky does them beside him, fingertips to toes, doing criss-crosses with their arms. by the time she's huffing and puffing, oleg is just warming up, but he's more than happy to toddle after her when she starts walking. 

"okay. remember, we gotta be on the lookout, 'kay? the warden says they've got some cool new friends in here and we wanna start off on the right foot."

WARDEN SAFARI ZONE

☉

saskia remains completely oblivious to the state of porter's quickly deteriorating psyche. at the very least, oleg grows bored of his impersonations very quickly and totters off to go tear up some weeds in the next plot over.

"your research!" she says, utterly intrigued. she grunts as she tugs out a pesky vine from the earth. what was once the root to a pomeg bush flakes off, brown and sad. she pats it after she sets it down.

"migration patterns in the birds there, mostly, but i was studying for ecology. there's a lot of really good opportunities for eco majors with the rangers. but that's boring! tell me about your research!"

porter holmes

☉