Priam’s announcement draws Eva’s attention over to the young man. The doctor shifts her posture, pushing herself off the wall so she’s standing straight when Priam comes over. She greets him with a pleasant smile and turns her attention down to the satchel he carries. It’s crammed with papers and drives and folders of all sorts. Great, more records to read through.

“Thanks, Priam! I appreciate it. Go ahead and set it down over . . . “ she considers for a moment, glancing around the room, “There,” she points towards a table far enough away that it won’t impede their scheduled experimentation.

Eva had already read through what Priam originally brought her when they first met and she took over the previous scientist’s research on the Blue Mulch. Unfortunately, she hadn’t gotten to do much since then. A lot had happened, and her attention had been divided across multiple projects.

“How have you been, Priam? Everything going ok?” she hadn’t gotten to catch up with him in a while so a little small talk was appropriate before jumping into things.

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priam conrad

“Great to hear!” Eva smiles, giving Priam a nod to emphasize that she’s happy everything seems to be going well, especially since Hoenn seemed to be imploding around them, “Well, next time you’re in one, grab a few samples! We’re still missing some new pokemon species, I think. I’ve heard rumors of strange looking Braviary and a weird Scyther evolution that seems pretty intense.”

With the small talk almost over she motions for Priam to follow her over towards the chamber just as he asks about the Zombie pokemon, “Yep! Figured now is better than never! We’ve put it off for a while though so . . . I honestly don’t even know if it’s still . . . animated,” she avoids the phrase “alive” for specific reasons.

An open pal slaps against the clear window of the Shadow Chamber, “I was originally planning to use this beauty for Shadow Pokemon but I lack the samples so I think it should hold against a zombie Hariyama. I’ve got Blade and Mew on standby, just in case,” Fingers crossed they will not be needed. The pink pokemon’s name stirs it from its nearby slumber. It floats over to Priam, giving the familiar man a friendly chirp in greeting.

Priam’s excitement is adorable, and it mirrors her own excitement. There was always a rush of adrenaline when it came to discoveries. Eva places the pokeball into a chamber that closes once the sphere is settled.

“Start the recording Priam, I want this all documented,” as if on cue a Rotomphone buzzes over to her assistant, “Are you ready?” she glances back at Priam and the device.

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priam conrad

Four?!” Eva turns, her smile brightening, “Well, we’ll just have to set up a time to collect samples from them,” the more samples the better! “Maybe bring them by tomorrow? I’m sure we can squeeze it in.”

With everything in place and priam conrad ready to record, Eva looks back at him and Mew with a smile. The Pink pokemon curiously hovers behind Priam while the Gallde is still leaning against a nearby wall, watching, but not interested in actively participating.

“Alright, this is specimen 052921A, collected from the peak of Mt. Pyre. Preliminary observation suggests this is a deceased specimen resurrected as a result of INFINITY ENERGY given off by the Ivory Tree present at the time. Soil samples confirm the presence of Infinity Energy consistent with previously studied Blue Mulch,” Clearing her throat, Eva taps a few buttons. The chamber buzzes to life and a reading of the pokeball appears on a screen. The vital so the pokemon don’t match with a standard pokemon’s within a pokeball.

“Viability of the specimen, unknown.”

There’s only one way to find out.

Eva swipes across the screen. The machine whirls to life again. The image of the pokeball disappears and the pokeball itself reappears on the other side of the glass within the chamber. The device clicks, expanding and releasing the contents in a flash of light.

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priam conrad

The time has come, and as the machine engulfs the pokeballs, a set of vital recording appears on screen: a heartbeat and rhythm, a respiration rate, mental status, and . . . Eva squints and peer closer on the screen. There’s a reading there, one she recognized from her Primal Energy research. It’s similar, but different at the same time.

“Vitals read that the specimen is viable, initiating release in 3, 2, 1 . . .”

The Hariyama is released into the chamber. It blinks, quite uncertain of where it is. The vitals remain stable for a moment. All except mental status – that seems almost non-existent. The pokemon also didn’t quite seem “all there”. Unlike the Gabite, is body is still mutilated with wounds from its time of death. Nothing about it is ‘repaired’. The tissues seem void of life.

“Specimen 052921A, do you –“ she’s cut off by the frantic beeps and chimes of the machine’s alarms. Eva doesn’t panic, she reaches across the keyboard to start giving the machine commands, “Vitals are falling but energy readings are increasing. Initiate critical life saving measures.”

The heart rate on the screen slows dramatically, sending another frantic alarm to add to the rest. Two needles appear, one administering atropine, the other epinephrine. The doses seem to have no effect as the reading in front of her dips to a flat line.

“Damn it!” she curses, peering into the chamber at the collapsed Hariyama, “Specimen 052921A, deceased. Strong evidence of Infinity Energy still present in the chamber,”

With a sigh she steps back, glancing towards Priam, “You can turn it off now, thanks,” There’s only one thing left to do now . . . “Welp, time for a necropsy!” Eva claps and rubs her hands together. It’s not her favorite thing to do but valuable, nonetheless. You can collect samples form deceased pokemon you otherwise couldn’t from living ones.

Does Infinity Energy cause something similar to Primal energy Intoxication? Time to find out!

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priam conrad

It really is disappointing to watch the Hariyama’s life force fade off into, well, nothing. For a moment, she silent, simply staring at the corpse in the chamber before pulling it back into a pokeball and out of the device with a push of the button.

“Hmmm, we’ll wanna go to the room. It’s too messy for the lab,” blood, guts, nasty smells. Plus, this was a big pokemon. A small Spoink she could do on an exam table, but a Hariyama deserved a whole room.

“Do you wanna help or sit this one out?” she’d never force an assistant to get elbow deep in a corpse unless they really wanted to.

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priam conrad

Despite the macabre setting of the overall situation, Priam always has a way of getting Eva to smile. She even lets out a light laugh as they make their way towards the door, “Once-in-a-lifetime, huh?” this seemed to be turning into a fairly frequent occurrence, unfortunately.

As Eva tucks some loose strands of hair back into her messy bun, she nods, glancing back at Priam briefly, “Yeah! Just uhhh follow my lead!” and don’t get hurt. She’d hate to have to explain that to HR.

“And wear this,” she smiles as they turn into the entrance of the pathology section. She tosses him a clean lab coat and boots before donning her own. She snaps on a set of gloves and encourages him to do the same, “This’ll be a big one! Probably messy so . . . don’t hesitate to leave if ya have to, alright?” Aka vomit outside the room, “I’ll have you take some notes and organize some samples, that sound ok?”

With everything set up and the Hariyama in place, she gets to work systematically dissecting the specimen and verbally relaying her findings for Priam to record and photograph. Every now and then she hands him a sample, hopeful that she’ll be able to find something useful.

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priam conrad