“Dr. Flint!” Mint greeted polite, but energetic as ever. He jogged over to the woman, Bucatini trailing behind a few feet. “Sorry to keep you waiting, I made sure to pack something to eat.” He said, as he readjusted his backpack straps. He wasn’t exactly sure how this kind of thing worked. Science, and anything STEM really, had never bee his forte. His entire life he had been groomed into the perfect painter. He didn’t know much of anything else. But that wasn’t to say he hated the thought of learning about it. So, when head of Rocket R&D invited him and Eris to join her on a small excursion, he was quick to say yes.
[break][break]

His eyes are immediately draw to the bobble headed alien and he frowned at it. Not another one. He hoped this one would be better behaved than Ruby Walker ’s had been. “Hello, uh, little guy?” he said, giving the alien pokemon a small wave. Bucatini huffed, acknowledging the levitating pokemon as well as they waited for Eris.


[break][break]

+ Lulu Flint + Eris Halla [break][break]

[break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

dr. flint.

before, it had been a joke to her. now, it simply rolled off without any tickle or response—and still, never any correction.

“that’s fine, mint. still…” she grunted lightly, shifting metal. “… trying to get this tripod figured out.” of all the things to set them behind. thankfully, the stand was soon perfectly settled and flat, and she began calibration.

poipole hovered closer to mint before waving back. it looked too innocent, until its smile turned up at one corner at the aggron’s huff. the alien levitated down a little lower before turning around the group of pokémon gathered, assessing them with the same curiosity it had shown the machine.

lulu looked over at eris’ bouncing briefly, wondering if it might’ve been closer to the point at which the levels had split that strange day. her question caught the older scientist by surprise. the possibility of palkia’s influence hadn’t occurred to her, even with its mention in the unown report. she thought of dialga, and the odd experience she’d had months prior…

if dialga was out there, then presumably, so was palkia.

“just to take some measurements, really... but maybe. that’s an interesting theory, eris.” her brow furrowed as she finished the last steps of set-up. “what makes you think it was a pokémon?”

and then, when she finished the last step of set-up: “who wants to go first?”

a walkthrough of buttons and reading would commence.

Eris Halla & mint frost

☉

“No rush, Doc! We just got here after all~” he said grinning at the purple alien before looking back at his team. They looked irritated but…they kind of always looked irritated. Part of their charms he supposed. Then again, there was a reason Cacio and Bucatini tended to sit on his work team than his out and about team. He listened carefully to Eris’ remembering the strange incidents she’d described to him before glancing back at Lulu as she struggled with the tripod. He looked back, smiling at Reiner and carefully patting the top of his head. “That’s for later buddy.” He said as Cacio and Bucatini moved closer to the smaller Luxray. Less in an assertion of dominance like the first time they’d met and more so in an acknowledgement this time. [break][break]

Finally, it seemed Lulu had finished, and he raised his hand excitedly. “If Eris doesn’t wanna I’ll go! I just…need to know what I’m doing first.” He said with a twinge of nervousness. He didn’t want to break the woman’s fancy equipment after all.


[break][break]

+ Lulu Flint + Eris Halla sorry for the wait [break][break]

[break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

eris started talking, and lulu listened, without interruption. her feelings towards eris were in a similar vein to how she felt about priam conrad . for one reason or another unfathomable to herself, something softened a little.

the kid was undeniably impressive. it was almost a pity that she would be dead in a year via meteor impact.

she decided to divulge. “darkrai gifted me the ability to never sleep.” this was somewhat sarcastic, as it felt more like a curse as time went on. “i can also give people bad nightmares.” even more so. “that’s hardly turning the world upside down.” but it might help.

shrugging, she considered eris' theory without realizing how spot-on it was, mostly entertaining it simply because she liked her. “but perhaps you’re right, eris. palkia is supposedly a very powerful pokémon.”

once calibration was complete, she looked up to mint as well, gesturing for them both to come closer so that she could point things out. “okay. come here, now.”

“this button, and then this…” blah blah, something something, big words and functions, mad’s brain is literally as smooth as a bowling ball, “and it’ll show on this screen here. got it?”

when the pokemon shifted agitatedly, the poipole opted to hover closer to eris, seeming entranced by her.

lulu stepped back, putting hands on her hips as she watched them carefully, ready to jump in upon error.

“have either of you heard about the unown report?”

Eris Halla & mint frost

☉

He listened along as well before turning to Lulu curiously. He hadn’t really interacted with avatars or those closely associated with pokemon he’d only know as legend and famous art. He’d never liked Darkrai all that much, but that was merely based around its lore. Better to stay away than to risk nightmares for life after all. Or worse. Even if it was hyperbolic, legends often had kernels of truth attached to them somewhere, somehow. No doubt the more modern-day humans interacted with forces of nature beyond their comprehension, they’d unearth more kernels of truth from the ancient beasts. [break][break]

He took pause, Lulu’s words unearthing something from his memory. “There’s these…these sets of paintings back in Sinnoh, in one of the big museums. They detail a strange landscape and an almost upside-down world. It’s the artist’s rendition of the Distortion World, but rumor has it that she had actually visited the pace herself or been sent dreams of it by the keeper of that world.” He offered. “Sootopolis looks weird, maybe it matches that as well. I haven’t seen the painting in a looong time myself though.” He added with a small laugh. “Sorry, just trying to help…” He did what he could, but let’s be real, he was just the manual labor here. Lulu and Eris were the brains of this operation. He was just kind of dumb. Always had been. [break][break]

Mint moved in eagerly looking over the doctor’s work before glancing back at Eris and making a face at her. Before he could press his button, Eris found it better to press his. “Hey! Who ran off scared off Mt. Chimney after we found those weird ball things?!” he snapped back indignantly before shoving his finger on the button and activating the graviwhatever. Lulu distracted him from going over and giving Eris a nuggie. “Uhh, no, not really. What’s that?” he asked tilting his head.


[break][break]

+ Lulu Flint + Eris Halla sorry for the wait [break][break]

[break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

her attention was effectively held.

a painting in sinnoh. lulu thought of Sabine Calcifet . she guessed the princess would likely be familiar with it if it held any kind of fame—but unfortunately, it had been some months since they’d spoken.

she paid little mind then as they shoved for a turn, instead turning to take a cigarette from her pocket, lighting it.

while mint’s question was answered extensively, she puffed a cloud or two, and regarded eris with a careful stare.

”yet another interesting theory, eris.” she was perceptive, wasn’t she? “but not to worry. we are looking into several things mentioned and implied in the report.” a small smile pressed across her lips, quickly drooping again to her natural, flat expression. ”I don’t believe the tree is of this world, and i look forward to figuring out where it is that it came from. it’s why we’re out here, today.”

she paused, and took another drag off her smoke.

”the gegenschein is a light the shines opposite of the sun on the ecliptic. it’s believed to be its reflection.”

then, one more thing.

”as for that painting you both mentioned, i’d love to see it.”

Eris Halla & mint frost

☉

Mint let out a laugh and swatted lightly at Eris. “Sure, I don’t mind. It’s good to refresh my memory on art history every once in a while.” He said nodding along to the little blonde. “Primal Energy Detectors, huh?” he echoed having more or less forgotten about it once he’d brought it in with his gadgets to Lulu to modify. “Nut.” Mint interrupted at the child said ‘nutation’. Otherwise, he had no clue what she was going on about. Yet. “Oh, you made this thing? Eris??” he asked squatting down for a moment to get a better look at the device. Then she moved onto talking about a meteor. “Wait- WHAT?” [break][break]

As the meanings of words floated out of the conversation, the wheels in Mint’s head started to turn a little. The more they picked at it the more it sounded like a conspiracy theory. “Creepy, very creepy.” He noted rubbing his arm a little at the thought. He hadn’t even given other worlds or parallel universes much thought but…well…that would have bene Palkia’s domain, wouldn’t it? And with all the mess in Sootopolis, he imagined parallel universes weren’t that far off right now. Maybe in another universe people could use pokemon moves. Like Fire Fang. OR fire Blast. [break][break]

“Ah, of course! I can pull it up on my phone later when I get better signal.” He said with a small nod.

[break][break]

+ Lulu Flint + Eris Halla advent day 8: fire move [break][break]

[break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

she did a doubletake at the device, having been absorbed in other thoughts and not noticed it was different than others. things then processed. eris had built a porygon. lulu was in awe, though it didn’t show much on her face as she took a longer drag from her cigarette.

eris was smarter than most of her team, wasn’t she? an anomaly of a child.

”don’t sell yourself short, eris,” she told her.

as she checked the readings, she added. ”i’d like the see the porygon some time. soon, preferably.”

they’d be moving onto the next place, having found nothing of interest in the general vicinity.

”i doubt it, but it could give us a better idea of how far the tree’s root system has spread. primarily, we’re looking for clues about what happened to the city here during the takeover, in regards to its flipping around and whatnot.”

but, the tree was certainly of interest as well. perhaps if they found nothing strange in the electromagnetic field, they could move on to investigating it.

Eris Halla & mint frost

☉