"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.

☉

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

☉

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

☉

it's actually kind of hard to see through her puffing eyes. and the smoke is still pretty thick. paramedics are rushing around. the fire department is finally here proper. she overhears them confirm no one else is in the building and a huuuuuge sigh of relief leaves her, but it's cut off with another hacking cough. 

ew, is she going to be hacking up this stuff all night now?

she spits it on the ground and grimaces. oleg's concerned enough that he leaves his post, teleporting again to meet sasky on the ground. he pats her knee affectionately and then spreads out his arms, wheeling around in circles around their blushing savior. 

"no, um...oh, i probably should. oleg knows recover, but i don't think he can use it on anyone but himself. maybe gastro....ohmygosh, i had gastrodon on me! i could have used rain dance."

oh, papa's gonna be so mad at her 'cause the first thing he's gonna ask is did you assess the situation? did you remember what team you brought with you?

now it's her turn to blush from embarrassment. 

"my throat hurts so bad. is there an ice cream shop around here?" her eyes light up. "can i treat you to ice cream?! y'know, for saving me 'n all."

KING WAYLAND

☉

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.

☉

she reaches, grasping through tongues of flame. she hadn't expected it to be so loud. a starving roar all around her, consuming the world. and a whimper in front of her. small hands finding her own, hot to the touch, but everything is hot. 

until it's not. 

water douses her and the child she swaddles close to her. she gives in to the pulling, heels stumbling, and both of them are carefully tugged out of the building. 

shapes are still blurry. fresh air tries to force its way through her throat, past the acrid, hacking coughs as her body tries to repel the pollution. someone takes the kid out of her hand and she hears crying. she hears thank-you, thank-you, thank-you over and over and over again, and then further away.

this woman, this mother, she falls to her knees in front of sasky's savior, as paramedics rush to put an oxygen mask on her daughter, and she says, 'you saved him. thank you. thank you.'

oleg's beeps are even more rampant, but these ones are excited. one moment he's there, still pinching the man's pant leg, and the next he's on his shoulder, alien legs swinging like a child's. 

"i'm okay," sasky croaks, warding off fussing hands. there are others who need attention more. she looks up, eyes still smarting, red rimmed. the woman and child are gone. all that's left is the stranger. 

"oleg," she chides and coughs again. "sorry. you're probably, like, his best friend right now." more hacking coughs. "gross. i can't believe that! oh my god, i could have died." she blinks rapidly; tears are still streaming down her cheeks. from the smoke? from the shock?

"you saved our lives."

KING WAYLAND

☉

"what!! no!!" she squeals. aw, she could get one just like morena. it also makes a whole lot of sense that mari would be excited for them too, given her partner sylveon and glaceon. "eevees really are the best," she says with a dramatic sigh as she tucks up her knees and starts scribbling.

one sentence in and she gets distracted by mari answering her question. 

"i never met my baba either. or my mom's grandparents. but your nana sounds nice." she tilts her head, contemplating mari's cut-off sentence. "we're lucky we got a family that looks out for us. i've met plenty of rangers who don't have that, y'know? i can't even imagine that."

marilee beaufort

☉

listening to grace has been fun and all, but she's never been much good at listening for long periods of time. so she's more than happy to take the gloves and bounce down the porch stairs, giving one last forlorn look to the box of donuts left by grace's side. 

that's okay. if they get snackish, oleg can always go squirrel away a couple more. great minds seem to think alike because the waddling alien beeps enthusiastically at her side. 

'tiri is very cute and saskia already loves her and has never touched a horsea before, but she imagines those cerulean, glittering scales feel like wet rocks. still salty from the ocean, tumbled smooth. it takes her a second to realize the guy - paxton? parker? pedro? - just introduced himself. 

"yeah! but you can call me sasky if you want." oh duh. the dossier. she can sneak a peek at his name there without sounding dumb and like she wasn't listening. 

she tightens her gloves and squats down to start clearing away some of the dead plants. "and this is oleg. don't mind him." oleg pitches forward, heavy head hitting the dirt with a solid thunk. his legs come up in a perfect headstand and he stretches out his arms. some of the earth loosens as tangled roots are pulled out from underneath it. 

sasky pats his stocky little legs. once, she sharpied toe beans on the cylindrical stalks. 

"where are you usually based out of? i don't think i've seen you 'round. i'm over in oldale."

porter holmes

☉

she doesn't hear the man with the shock of blue hair. she doesn't see the marshtomp with its torn-up face. she just feels heat. 

flames crawl up the walls, but she realizes quickly that her biggest threat isn't the fire itself. smoke dives greedily down her throat and runs horrid, scratching fingers over her eyes. 

she hunkers low to the ground and she turns blindly, looking for the door. she's no help to anyone if she's dead. but the frame gives way. wood cracks and plaster falls. from outside, oleg's beeping grows more insistent. 

he tugs on the pants of the blue-haired man, pointing and screeching. 

KING WAYLAND

☉

everything about saskia aches. she's used to the physical demands of ranger work, but not like this. ever since the silent icelands went crazy with freaking kyurem and people are in town recovering, the sleepy place has been severely shortstaffed. 

heck, she's even stayed up late down by the clinic putting in extra volunteer hours just because they need the hands. her papa's proud of her, she knows, but at the same time he can't help but chide her for falling asleep in her bowl of cereal. that dochka, you're not helping anyone like that. 

so she resolves to take a day off. she heard there's a whacky underground circus somewhere in slateport so that's where she tottered off to (not realizing that it's an incredibly obvious ruse for pokemon smuggling), but either way that's how she ends up in front of the burning apartment building. 

a battle gone haywire. an ultra beast that missed an attack? too many stories, too much blame getting cast, and not enough people doing something about it. 

"oleg!" she cries to the baby alien perched on her shoulder - "help them with the water buckets. we - " 

"let me back in! she's still in there! let me go!"

their arms are full holding and restraining the inconsolable woman. the flames are too hot. sasky hears a cry and she doesn't think. she just acts. oleg beeps a high-pitched warning as she raises her arms and runs through the doorway. 

KING WAYLAND

☉

and donuts? this is shaping up to be the best ranger mission of her whole life. she brightens and hops up to her feet, careful not to slosh her cider around (she absolutely would have gotten it everywhere had oleg not been prepared with a bit of psychic power). she bounces over to him and, more importantly, to the box of donuts, green eyes gleaming. 

grace explains with a chuckle, a sparknotes version of what she'd just told saskia. 

"so basically, we get to clean up all the clutter and make sure everything's all set to go when all the land needs to be tilled for the new berry season! isn't that neat?" she says, 100% enthusiastically as she grabs for an apple cinnamon frosted donut. 

porter holmes

☉

saskia really doesn't think much about spreading the lotion around on her new pal's back. except she is thinking a lot about it. the last thing she wants is to miss a spot and get mari sunburnt. that's not the best way to start a friendship. 

when she's done with mari's back, she slaps some on herself and vigorously wipes her hands down on her ranger jacket to get most of it off so she can hold the stationary without ruining it. 

"oh my gosh, i think we got the same water-type eraser caps. they're so cuuuuute," she drawls and taps the top-heavy pencil against her chin. 

she plops down on her ass right into the sand, their watery plunge completely forgotten in the face of her new tools. when she looks up from the cute pidove paper, she beams. 

"he's a prickly old man, but all the old men in my family are prickly. and under that he's a big ol' softie. no one makes hot cocoa that good without being a softie. what about your grandparents?"

marilee beaufort

☉