Draco: Starting this chapter on the dawn of the New Year. I think a couple days' break is fine, I'm gonna get back to Galar. I want to see what this post-game episode has in store, it might be interesting.

Pokémon and protagonist © Nintendo. Character designs © Koei. Ransei © somewhere in the middle.

Ultra Kingdom - Rich Earth: Celestial Mysteries

"So, remind me again why we keep walking instead of just sticking around where we started?"

It was a week since the Ranseans had arrived in the Celesteela's valleys, and progressing through had been a simple enough process so far. Most of the time, the half-buried Celesteela didn't react just because they were getting close, and they could safely (if warily) maneuver around them. The few times a beast did end up fighting them, it had un-buried itself before the Warriors had approached - and as soon as it stopped attacking, everyone knew well enough from the first time to retreat as far as possible before it departed.

Not that they could run far enough to stop anyone's ears from ringing, but the effects didn't last as long as they had the first time.

At Okuni's question, Oichi shook her head. "We're not just trying to avoid the beasts," she reprimanded, "we're trying to find the others. Walking around betters our chances of finding anyone who might be here." She shook her head. "Besides, we need to resupply. If we stuck around where we started, we'd be more limited in what we can gather."

"These branches are at least twice as long as the battlefield in Dragnor Castle," Okuni argued, "we're not going to run out of stuff in there just collecting for one month."

"And while we are prioritizing volume over variety," Ranmaru countered, "will you object to having variety if we should come across it?"

"...Point."

They were coming up on one of the intersections at this point; there was a crater here, indicating the Celesteela had already unburied itself, and Oichi glanced down the paths, uncertain. "Did anyone hear it...?"

"Not that I could tell," Gracia admitted. "Oh no, don't tell me it's..."

"No," Ranmaru mused, "I don't believe it would have started patrolling. The beasts don't seem particularly prone to farming."

After a moment, Oichi glanced skyward. "Did it maybe... fly off without being defeated?"

"I guess that's not impossible," Okuni observed, "but it raises a lot of questions."

Oichi hummed. "Then their flight isn't a reaction to being defeated, it's just... something they were already going to do before we fought them."

"Does that mean we're not defeating them?" Gracia asked.

"No," Oichi insisted, "we are. The way they fall to the ground, they are being knocked out. But it's not stopping their flight."

Okuni twirled her parasol. "But we don't have to fight them, then," she mused.

"The beasts make the first move," Ranmaru observed. "Perhaps we don't have to fight them, but they choose to fight us."

+x+x+x+

When they made camp that night, everyone kept their eyes on the skies while they ate. Sure enough, a glow started to ascend as they watched - a Celesteela departing in the distance.

"Guess your theory is sound," Okuni told Oichi.

Gracia set her meal down. "Where are they going?"

"They seem to be flying straight up," Ranmaru observed. "It's hard to believe they're deliberately going anywhere. It's like they're simply soaring as high as... huh?"

A glow was starting to descend in the distance; it seemed to be a Celesteela returning. After a moment, the glow intensified; it was descending blast-end first, and the flames searing from beneath it started to slow its fall as it returned.

"They come back," Gracia murmured. "After they take off."

Okuni swallowed heavily. "Now I'm really glad you guys said 'no' to camping in the craters."

After a moment, it became clear that someone wasn't contributing to the conversation; everyone turned to Oichi and found her passed out next to her empty platter. Null seemed surprised to see it.

"Lady Oichi?" Gracia called quietly. No response.

Ranmaru sighed, getting to his feet. "She's insisted on taking the first watch since we left Ransei," he mused. "Not that we've always been making six shifts on watch, but we should have been alternating properly which of us take two in the event we have the chance." Carefully, he picked her up and delivered her to her tent, setting her to bed.

"Can't get too upset with her for that," Okuni admitted as he stepped back out. "She's the one with the Link with Null, the way he reacts to beast would wake her up even if she could sleep through his roars."

Gracia nodded. "No kidding. First night in the Poipole's bog, him roaring at one of them woke me up." She stepped up to the artificial Pokémon, setting a hand on his helmet. "Me and Gothitelle can take the first watch, if you don't mind?"

+x+x+x+

The next day - to much concern - a descending Celesteela landed in a crater as the Ranseans were approaching it.

Everyone kept a safe distance as it landed; thankfully, it seemed to have its back to them, although their first encounter had taught them not to assume that meant it wouldn't fight them. Once the beast had touched down, the protrusions on its base seemed to grasp the earth... and the dirt around the crater seemed to flow in to fill it. Before long, the Celesteela was half-buried, and a strange glow propagated in cracks outward from it, slowly pulsing.

"That raises so many questions," Oichi whispered once they had managed to pass the beast safely.

"You mean the return?" Okuni asked.

Oichi shook her head. "Not just that. It seems like it's... recovering itself while it's buried. But that means... what, it's drawing power from the earth?"

"It may well be," Ranmaru admitted. "The produce here is growing without maintenance from anyone - human or Pokémon. It seems as though the land is... innately fertile in some way."

"Which begs the question of what else is in the land," Oichi murmured.

Gracia perked up. "Oh!" Turning to Ranmaru; "Think you'll be able to find something?"

"Do shut up," Ranmaru asked.

Okuni glanced at her. "Find something?"

"His precious stone collecting," Gracia replied.

"That's the first I've heard of this," Okuni observed.

Ranmaru shook his head. "They're not precious stones," he corrected, "they're just stones that happen to look nice."

"Collecting jewels for a lady?" Okuni teased.

"Oh, he's not so discriminatory as all that," Oichi argued. There was a smile on her face as she elaborated, "He found one for me and Brother each."

"Did he now," Okuni mused.

Gracia giggled. "Did you ever keep one for yourself?"

"Come to think of it," Oichi mused, "I don't think he ever has."

"Oh, come on," Gracia reprimanded, "you can't just give them out to everyone else if you don't have one of your own."

Oichi hummed. "That's a good point, actually. Why would you treat us, and not-"

"Do shut up!" Ranmaru objected; their march came to a halt as everyone stepped back from his sudden outburst, and he turned to Oichi. "Lovely stones alone serve no purpose. The gems I gave you and Lord Nobunaga have uses - however oblique they might be, or how little they mean after recent developments. I do not intend to take a jewel with no cause behind it."

"...Okay," Oichi conceded. "Fair enough."

Ranmaru raised his hands in apology. "I'm sorry," he insisted. "But it's true. What use have I for any stone, beyond those with practical purposes?" He raised his arm to show the com-crystal bracelet he was wearing as an example.

"It's called jewelry," Gracia argued. "It looks pretty. You could at least wear a necklace or something."

"Yes, because I need more causes for strangers to mistake me as female," Ranmaru retorted.

+x+x+x+

"Speak of Antimatter..." Okuni mused.

"And the Distortion World will open," Gracia finished.

Ranmaru shook his head. "I am not taking that."

The day after their conversation about stones, they came across the crater of an absent beast - and within was lying a shimmering jewel. A few flakes of dull grey rock seemed to be the remains of an outer layer that had been blasted off when the Celesteela rooted here had departed; the body of the stone was a bright orange that seemed to glisten in the light, and deep within was an odd twisting shape, blue surrounding a red center. The shape within was about the size of a marble; the stone itself was about the half the size of a Pokémon Egg, with similar proportions.

Okuni rounded on him at the protest. "Oh, come on! There's nothing wrong with it! It's like the Alpha handed it to you on a platter!"

Gracia stepped into the crater as Ranmaru sighed. "Not only is it needless," he insisted, "it's detrimental. We're on a journey, and we have no idea how much longer we'll be away from Ransei. Added weight would only-"

"Um, what weight?"

Everyone started as Gracia picked up the stone - one-handed, and without even showing much struggle at that. She tossed it up lightly and caught it again. "It's barely as heavy as a baseball," she retorted. "You could use throw this past a Growlithe for a game of fetch."

She tossed it at Ranmaru, who caught it narrowly. "It's still- Mulch, you're right," he interrupted himself, glancing down at the stone. "Jewels of this size are never this light."

Oichi plucked it from his grip. "Yeah," she admitted, "that's lighter than I thought it would be." Her gaze narrowed. "But the size, though... if we put it in our packs, we'd be sacrificing room for rations."

"Yes," Ranmaru agreed. "Thank you, Lady Oichi."

"Except..." Okuni pulled at one of the side pockets of Ranmaru's bag. "All our rations are in the main pouches of the packs. These ones don't really keep things protected from the environment. That should fit in there, shouldn't it?"

Ranmaru glared at her as Oichi held the stone next to the one on his other side. "Maybe," she admitted. "It might strain the seams a little bit."

"I'm not taking it," Ranmaru insisted. "There's no cause for me to-"

Lucario gave an inquisitive growl.

"Oh, come on!"

Gothitelle and Volcarona were laughing as Gracia stepped up. "Hey, it goes with your pattern," she mused, taking the stone from Oichi. "You found it, and you're giving it to someone else. Not your fault if it's your Pokémon who liked it and wanted it."

She handed the stone to Lucario, who held it curiously up to the light as Ranmaru turned to him. "What's this about all of a sudden?" he asked.

Oichi's eyes seemed to flicker purple briefly as she shook her head. "Maybe he just has a better appreciation for pretty things than you do," she mused.

"Lady Oichi..."

"But... maybe there's something else," she admitted. "When he took it, I... thought I felt something."

Ranmaru blinked. "Oh?" He turned to Lucario. "Then this one does have some sort of purpose."

"Could be," Oichi admitted. Then, glancing up; "We're sticking around too long. Let's get away from this crater before a Celesteela comes down."

They started down one of the valleys; Gracia came up to Oichi once they were well away. "You're not gonna get him to wear jewelry if you help him rationalize like that."

"Oh, hush," Oichi reprimanded - but there was a smile on her face even so.

Draco: I play Pokémon Conquest. I've seen weird hairstyles in weird colours. But that is a whole new level of questionable. What in the ass is wrong with them? I don't even care what they have planned, nobody who thinks either of those is a good idea for a hairstyle can possibly be up to anything good.