not easily drawn away from her typical workspaces, today she had come along, only because of its relevance to their research on primal energy—and also because it was priam. she found him most tolerable.

she looked around, scrutinizing. the area appeared as though nothing of note had happened there, but it had been some time, of course.

“hmm.”

a poipole had followed along, until they stopped, and it went to explore. its curiosity reflected that of the scientist’s, as she knelt down in her boots to collect a mineral sample. to compare to the ones he had brought her before.

“maybe—but wait, you’re saying it’s happened here more than once?”

priam conrad

☉

what if they were everywhere, and those two places were just the ones they’d been spotted? still, it seemed like too big a coincidence that multiple had been found in a single area.

there had to be something.

her brow furrowed in thought, as she screwed the lid back on the sample container. “we’re going to figure it out,” she assured.

she reached for a pokéball attached to her hip, releasing djall. having previously been very friendly towards priam, he might find it perplexing how he had darkened in demeanor. for some reason, he had been chosen as darkrai’s victim of terror, and had never quite recovered. upon a thought of Chu-e Choi 's words about cresselia, she'd wondered if it might be able to return her dog to normal again, if it ever crossed ther path. love was so scarce in her life.

viciously, the hound snarled and snapped. lulu whistled sharply. “djall! listen up.”

he stopped, attention leaving priam and red eyes meeting hers.

“we’re looking for something big, causing damage in the area.” did these instructions make a lick of sense to him? “track it down.”

something must have clicked, because he turned and galloped off in the other direction, into the foliage. lulu pressed the side of a coin hanging around her neck within her shirt. A bright flash lit the trees, and djall mega-evolved before disappearing, ODOR SLEUTH leading him somewhere.

priam conrad

☉

djall ran further ahead into the flora, nose to the ground.

“a camera.” in a small bag, along with the containers for soil samples. she nodded as priam pulled out his phone. “phones.”

gps could be fucky, but still, ”good thinking.”

when djall caught the scent, or maybe the sight of something, a howl ripped through the air—but it was hardly needed with the path he scorched in his wake. grass and leaves crinkled and hissed audibly around them.

“yup. very hot,” she confirmed needlessly.

she got out her own phone to hold it up, intent to catch anything that ran into the path. surely, djall could handle it.

the houndoom continued to howl, long and bugling. sneak attacks were beyond him.

poipole stayed with priam and lulu, floating nearby with attention poised ahead. was it nervous?

“do you think he's tailing one? should we run ahead?”

priam conrad

☉

an urshifu. lulu had yet to see one in person. while they followed after the houndoom, she was attentive of the bear. its form change was impressive. she felt the butterfrees of excitement in her chest, and amber eyes glittered.

”incredible. i wonder how far the radiation extends…”

she kicked herself for not bringing better equipment.

djall would not have backed down. if prey was there, he was baring teeth, gluttonous for blood. a vicious bark would quicken lulu’s pace.

”i think he’s got something.”

she ran to the edge of the dip, looking down into it. poipole loomed over her shoulder all the while.

priam conrad

☉

lulu and poipole remained behind, watching. ”be careful,” she called after him. she might not have had the same concern for others, not that he wasn’t capable. there was a fondness.

meanwhile, djall was below, growling viciously at his cornered catch. in front of him, blocked from view, was a baby kangaskhan—a big one, though still well-outmatched in size by the dog, and hidden from view from the rest.

except for another unseen nearby.

as priam’s voice, djall turned a moment, his growl only deepening in disapproval at the distraction from prey. Lulu saw it a moment too late…

”djall!”

the moment was capitalized on by an angry mother all at once, OUTRAGE glowing purple as a massive mega kangaskhan came out of practically nowhere, swinging hard.

it made contact, knocking the air out of djall with a grunt as he was sent too easily across the ground.

priam conrad

☉

djall quickly found his feet again, but found his trajectory intercepted by the urshifu—which looked different than before, catching the dog off-guard.

while it might’ve been a stalemate, there was no calling the ultraviolent houndoom off from a fight without returning him. still starved for blood, djall snapped and charged, teeth lashing out to crunch at a leg.

lulu looked over at priam, shrugging a bag off. ”i did bring… a couple more things along.”

tubes in bags were handed towards priam, and then came out a few readers, similar to emf and gauss meters, and a geiger counter.

”we probably shouldn’t be here. i’m going to guess the energy level of the radiation is very high—obviously the kind of stuff that can mess with things on a genetic level.” she watched the fight below, before shaking her head and getting to work. ”let’s not waste time. do what we need to do, quick look-around and get back.”

”take more soil from here, so we can compare to the samples you brought to my office before.”

priam conrad

☉