poor guy. sasky at least gives him a pat on the back and assures him he'll get it next time. his perception doesn't really matter anyway. they manage to make it through without any serious bumps in the road, which is completely fine by her. 

when they reach the top, kirin has earned a well-deserved break. sasky lets out a sigh of relief as they're officially discharged. she sends a couple texts home, starving for her father's cooking, and dreams about the shower and good night's sleep she's going to have.

URIAH BLACK

☉

sven was really into tabletop games. sasky loved them as much as she could. as long as she was allowed to do other things while they played to keep her brain occupied, she could carry on. otherwise, the gameplay got a little boring. 

but she always liked being a little guy and messing things up.

"that's mid. but it's ok. kirin's like nat 20 all the time, aren't you kir?" she coos. 

URIAH BLACK

☉

right on their way out her butt!! if he tries to leave without her, so help her gods, she'll finally throw a hissy fit. it's hot down here and normally she doesn't mind the hoenn heat, but this is something else. it's extra sticky and her ranger jacket is kinda gross and smelly now.

kirin nickers and when he asks his question, she sighs. at least he's not trying to ditch her. 

"come on. this way. just keep on the lookout for us, 'kay?"

URIAH BLACK

☉

saskia has been told not to let trainers tell her they have all the credentials in the world. this place is supposed to be on the lockdown. off limits. 

of course she knows the top champion. well, not personally, but she knows of him of course, and if they're super duper best friends, then maybe he should be out here with him! vouching for him!

"okay, welllll, there are these super aggro doggos everywhere and kirin and i have strict orders that we gotta get civilians outta here."

URIAH BLACK

☉

her job now is search and rescue! of course there are like a million and one civilians that are coming down here and getting way dang over their heads. kirin is so tired and her poor little hooves hurt, but they have a job to do. 

they can rest when they're finished. 

when they come across a lonesome man, she buzzes up with a wave and hollers, "hey you! are you with the rangers or officers or league or anything?"

doing this half a dozen times hasn't made her more eloquent.

URIAH BLACK

☉

she doesn't wholly expect morena to turn the tides as she does. frost nips at her nose and gooseflesh runs down the sides of her arms. the tapu bulu regards her and the rest of her party, considering, and then it leaves them a gift. 

"i feel bad," she says as the lunatone rise. bits and pieces of one skitter over her boots as monday's celesteela sends a couple spinning away. "they're the ones who live here, you know?"

morena holds her own side at bay with icy flurries and elgyem pirouettes with psychic power. they come out of the scrape far worse than monday's celesteela, but still relatively okay. she'd been watching the impressive ultra beast so intently, she hadn't noticed oleg's antics. 

the elgyem is several yards away from them, standing atop a wounded zarude. more lunatone lay in tangled snarls of vines around them. 

"oh wow, oleg. you met another friend!" the monkey looks at her quizzically. saskia plucks her baby alien off of its back and it harumphs, following behind. "oh, er. okay. don't you live here though?"

it blinks. 

"monday, do monkeys live on the moon?" she calls over her shoulder. she knows dogs don't live on the moon. oleg squirms in her arms and reaches for a pokeball at her belt and, before she can protest, lobs it at the zarude.

Lulu Flint

sasky's third expedition - catching zarude!

☉

"true that," she says warmly. she's been through it with kirin. lots of cold winters in sinnoh. lots of arduous days working with the rangers. 

- tending to the dying ecosystem around her home, bodies of slaughtered pokemon soaking the soil, walking hallways with less people every day. - 

she smiles, though her fingers twist in kirin's fur. 

"stay by me, okay?" she says to her chipper friend. "i don't want anything to happen to you."

lucian flores

☉