honestly, smart move, haoyu. the kartana on saskia's shoulder may be a good boy now, but there's no telling what horrible intentions he might have in store for the happy-go-lucky girl and her sidekick.

it, at the very least, decides not to warn them of the carnivine vines snaking along the ground, content to crane its little origami head and watch him get pulled up, up, up into the sky. 

saskia panics and pinches one of its arms, exclaiming, "cut him down this instant! oh, mr tso, what the heck?" his cramorant is decidedly useless, which, same, but kartana springs into action, leaping to cut the branch holding him aloft. 

"wait, wait, WAIT!" she shouts uselessly as the last bit of vine snaps. she fumbles with her pokeballs. oleg rolls out of one, looks up, and outstretches a hand in alarm, beeping like a siren. psychic energy surrounds their falling companion and his falling turns to a slow and gentle floating to the ground.

@haoyu

☉

she does not worry about the kartana on her neck because it is her kartana. it's just a wittle baby and besides, taking it out of the rifts seemed to make it way less crazy than it normally is. its speech is garbled and shrieking and oleg is already in love with it. the two have started workshopping new tracks for their debut album.

which is how she learned that playing the sound on repeat makes it speak in common tongue. crazy!

saskia plays the voice recording again. and again. and again. the kartana keeps on with its backwards gibberish until sasky shoos it off her shoulder and asks it very nicely to lead them through its once-home.

"i think it kinda likes being back, but i hope it doesn't get all crazy again. they're kinda nice, when you get used to 'em. like with most pokemon. but don't worry about it. hims a good boy now."

@haoyu

33 allow a celesteela or kartana that you own to guide you safely through the realm.

☉

haoyu is quick on the draw, covering their escape as they blunder through the forest. oh, brother. and here she thought she was actually displaying some measure of confidence out here. still, kirin does her best to use psychic energy to keep the hordes off of them.

saskia doesn't notice until much later that one of the kartana, a little itty bitty baby, has suckered itself to the back of her rump like a stray piece of paper. 

"yeah," she says breathlessly as they carry on, "next time."

@haoyu

6th expedition! saskia catches kartana

☉

he's excited! and that makes her happy. she grabs the delphox by the arm and hauls him up, hugs his floofy waist, and says brightly, "well, he needed a bombass name, right?"

greyson nods enthusiastically.

"so i named him after my second, er, third favorite person in the world!" unfortunately, that list goes papa -> sven -> gr - wait, what about her grandpa? he's pretty important. oh, this is stressful. maybe you shouldn't have 'favorite' people.

"okay, actually just one of the coolest people ever," she amends, as though he had any inclination to the dog chasing its tail in her head.

"and he wubs his name, don't you, greyson?"

Greyson Connors

☉

maybe she's misremembering the kartana. there are glimpses of them in the bamboo, their weird scritchy-scratchy voices all about as an ever-present hum. it almost sounds like a lullaby. kirin is, oddly enough, a bit more anxious than usual. her ears flick and move downward, nostrils flare. 

"oh, are you sure? it's so nice here though," she says wistfully and extends her arms out to her sides. one of the kartana lands on an outstretched palm and she grins joyfully, saying, "see?" when a neat little red ribbon blossoms on the meat under her thumb.

pain shocks her senses and the spell is broken. the humming is louder, the kartana's murmurs more like metal on metal screeching. she yells, too, and kirin's pupils widen at the scent of blood.

"oh my gods, go! go, go, go!"

@haoyu

☉

he's crazy busy. being elite four right now isn't something she could ever do. she couldn't see most people doing it. and hearing that their champion gone and one of their e4 members are deposed? well, it makes her worry about him. like, all the time now.

she holds greyson's cheeks in her hand and she says, "i got something i wanna tell you," and he blinks and she says, "we're gonna do this together. we're gonna be serious and we're gonna be professional 'cause we're not kids anymore."

greyson sneezes in saskia's face. her nose scrunches and she releases a long and giddy, "ewwwwww," and then she checks her phone. greyson lays on his back in the grass and plays idly with his wand.

"do you think he forgot? or got too busy?" greyson tugs her arm and she tilts her head, then scrambles to her feet.

"you made it! look," she crows and gestures to the delphox beside her, "i got a delphox now!"

Greyson Connors

☉

"i have learned with hoenn, one must expect the unexpected." she dips her head like some wizened sage and kirin nickers, snurfling her hair. sasky giggles and pushes her snout away, taking care to avoid the flesh-eating plants. 

her friend seems to like to get close to the things she points out are dangerous, so she opts not to tell him about them anymore.

"um, maybe? to be honest, i've never spent a lot of time in the bamboo. the kartana are really cute, but...they're kinda mean."

@haoyu

☉

she looks straight ahead of her, brows creasing, thinking hard. oleg putters soft snores into her side like a wittle itty baby. she shoulders his weight, but her arm is kind of sore now, but also she loves him very much so it doesn't matter. she'll hold him. he deserves that much.

"you're right," she says and then she bounces on the balls of her feet, jostling her baby. 

"it should be called death by orthworm as, like, a tribute."

Greyson Connors

☉

his priorities are actually completely out of whack. she's going to be completely and utterly useless until they pick out a new name for oleg's sick track. it should probably be more glorious though, given that he just got a whole swarm of orthworm to rampage after him like some flying tyrant king. 

"oh, brother, now you're gonna go all big bro on me, aren't you?" she squares up her shoulders and waggles a finger, voice deepening to a terrible rendition of his own: "now, sasky, you probably should have sat down and thought about what you were going to do before acting so brashly."

she grins like the cheshire cat as she adds, "but you're really freaking cool and oleg is a creative genius, so we're all gucci."

Greyson Connors

☉

he talks about oleg as though the alien isn't stealthing under the brambles and listening as intently as he possibly can. the moment the plan is said, oleg springs up, showering both porter and sasky with dirt, and takes off running down the dirt path, flinging soil psychically like a madman. 

sasky gets teary-eyed and says, "gods, i love him so much."

then, because she has very little regard for personal space, uses porter's shoulder to boost herself up to her feet and goes off running behind her little alien, kicking stray things away as she goes.

porter, babes, you've got your work cut out for you. 

porter holmes

☉

she's kind of proud of herself. it helps that haoyu has a soothing voice and that he speaks with a lot of calm certainty, but still, she's very proud she doesn't freak out. she even takes the time to nod very tersely and remember that kirin can carry two people.

it's a tight squeeze, but it's doable, so they get out of there lickity split, with only minor worrisome coughing. 

the bamboo thins, but the stalks they pass by are in much better condition. only when kirin is breathing heavily and struggling under their weight does sasky pat her side and dismount with a grunt. 

"we're getting really good at this! can you believe i almost, like, died out here once? to a flesh-eating plant? oh - those plants, actually!"

@haoyu

23 involve the classic trope of running/fleeing through a bamboo forest/fields.

☉